James Duddridge, Member of Parliament for Rochford and Southend East, has spoken out about the decision of Southend Hospital to ban flowers on the grounds of health and safety.
Since Southend University Hospital NHS Trust made the decision to ban flowers, James has been very vocal about his opposition to this decision and on Tuesday 10th February, asked the Secretary of State for Health, the Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP, whether he thought flowers did present a real risk to patients. Mr Johnson admitted that his department does not recommend the banning of flowers but considered this an issue for local trusts.
Speaking after the debate, James said:
“I wanted to raise this issue in the House again, as I still feel that this decision and the way that it was conducted was ill thought out. When speaking to local people, the impression that I get is that flowers are a great source of comfort to patients. I have not seen any scientific evidence that flowers do present a risk to the recovery of patients, and I will be writing to the Secretary of State, asking him to clarify whether his department has done any research into this issue.”
“The Secretary of State also raised the issue of the consultation. The trust conducted a survey on a small sample of people and I do not think that this constitutes a consultation and I will also be seeking an explanation of the rationale behind the consultation procedure.”
11 February 2009