Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt hits back at Ralph Little

RALF LITTLE V JEREMY HUNT FEUD RECAP

Little posted a 42-tweet thread last Monday that included fact checking of the claims and statistics that Hunt presented in his controversial interview on the Andrew Marr show. Here are the points he made:

  • His first claim, backed by Full Fact, was that there were 6,000 fewer nurses working in mental health in 2015, compared to that of 2010 in England.
  • He claimed that there were also 170 fewer fully trained doctors specializing in psychiatry and psychotherapy in 2016, compared to 2010.
  • He also said the training for new psychiatry specialists fell to only 69% of places filled this year after two rounds.
  • Little then condemned Hunt for quoting figures that were unverifiable to further his own political agenda.
  • He finished off his thread by urging Hut to engage in an open conversation on the matter of healthcare with full transparency and real statistics, in the ‘presence of fact checkers and medical professionals’.

Jeremy Hunt has finally hit back and said he wants to ‘get to the bottom’ of his Twitter confrontation with Ralf Little after the actor accused the health secretary of lying about his efforts to challenge mental health.

In a series of 26 tweets, Mr Hunt sent the ‘funny bloke’ actor, 37, best known for his appearance in the Royle Family, links he claims prove he has increased NHS mental health staff in recent years.

Mr Hunt finishes the thread disputing Little’s claims he ‘knowingly lied’ over his self-professed ‘biggest expansion of mental health provision in Europe’ asking the actor, who has yet to reply, for proof.

He also praises any Twitter readers for having the ‘endurance and resilience’ to read the more than 20 tweets, saying he is not as witty as Little, but he felt compelled to ‘put the record straight’, before adding he will not be commenting on the issue on social media again.  

Last Monday, Little took down Mr Hunt in 42 tweets – after he challenged the actor to a ‘double-dare’.

Little accused Hunt of lying on Twitter about claims he masterminded the ‘biggest expansion of mental health provision in Europe’ on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

The 37-year-old actor then sent a public tweet to the Tory: ‘If I’m wrong, sue me. I double dare you.’ It sparked a week-long war of words.

Hunt, MP for South West Surrey, eventually hit back at the accusation and provided a range of statistics backing his claim up to dismiss Little’s scathing remark – and double-dared the actor to retaliate. 

Little (pictured) accused Hunt of lying on Twitter about claims he masterminded the 'biggest expansion of mental health provision in Europe' on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show

Ralf Little (right), 37, accused Jeremy Hunt (left) of lying on Twitter about claims that he masterminded the ‘biggest expansion of mental health provision in Europe’

Little then responded after carefully fact-checking Hunt’s disputed figures because he is ‘never one to resist a challenge’.

In a series of 42 tweets, he exposed the truth behind Hunt’s figures – and mocked his ability to use unverified statistics to his advantage.

He jokingly wrote under the hashtag ‘quadrupleOscarwinner’: ‘I don’t blame you – if no-one kept a record of Oscar winners, I’d be telling everyone I’ve got four.’

Thousands of Twitter users, including psychologists and mental healthcare workers, praised Little’s ‘destructive’ takedown and issued a range of memes mocking Hunt.  

Read Jeremy Hunt’s 26 rebuttal tweets for yourself below

Rebuttal: Hunt was determined to 'get to the bottom of this issue' in his 26-tweet rant in response to actor Ralf Little's 42-tweet take down posted last Monday

Rebuttal: Hunt was determined to ‘get to the bottom of this issue’ in his 26-tweet rant in response to actor Ralf Little’s 42-tweet take down posted last Monday

He wrote: 'Now I know you are a funny bloke and in politics a lot of insults are traded but the question is can you back up what is a very strong claim?'

He wrote: ‘Now I know you are a funny bloke and in politics a lot of insults are traded but the question is can you back up what is a very strong claim?’

Hunt added: 'Parity of esteem for mental health became law in 2012, so here are the tables that show the 4,300 increase in staff at mental health trusts since 2013...' 

Hunt added: ‘Parity of esteem for mental health became law in 2012, so here are the tables that show the 4,300 increase in staff at mental health trusts since 2013…’ 

He continued: '...more than 2,000 of which are fully disqualified (e.g. not the reduction of 167 in the fullfact piece you linked)'

He continued: ‘…more than 2,000 of which are fully disqualified (e.g. not the reduction of 167 in the fullfact piece you linked)’

His next tweet read: 'And here's how we get the increase in talking therapies staff of over 2000, some of which will overlap with the trust figure because some IAPT services are provided by trusts (although many aren't)...'

His next tweet read: ‘And here’s how we get the increase in talking therapies staff of over 2000, some of which will overlap with the trust figure because some IAPT services are provided by trusts (although many aren’t)…’

Tweet 6: Hunt then linked the data sets that he used to back up his claims made on the Andrew Marr show

Tweet 6: Hunt then linked the data sets that he used to back up his claims made on the Andrew Marr show

Tweet 7: '@ralflittle you pointed out that mental health nurses have gone down. This is correct, even though overall numbers working in mental health have gone up. Why? Because post Mid Staffs we realised...'

Tweet 7: ‘@ralflittle you pointed out that mental health nurses have gone down. This is correct, even though overall numbers working in mental health have gone up. Why? Because post Mid Staffs we realised…’

He continued: '... there were too many hospital wards with dangerously low staffing so in the last five years have increased hospital nursing staff by almost 13,000. Whilst this has been good for hosps, it has been challenging for MH'

He continued: ‘… there were too many hospital wards with dangerously low staffing so in the last five years have increased hospital nursing staff by almost 13,000. Whilst this has been good for hosps, it has been challenging for MH’

He then wrote: 'So to fill the gap we now have 8,000 MH nurses in training and have this Sept announced an increase in nurse training places overall by 25%'

He then wrote: ‘So to fill the gap we now have 8,000 MH nurses in training and have this Sept announced an increase in nurse training places overall by 25%’

He conceded a little in tweet 10: 'You are correct that I did misread a briefing and tell the House of Commons that there was a 30,000 increase in mental health staff when I should have said a 30,000 increase in NHS clinical staff including in mental health...'

He conceded a little in tweet 10: ‘You are correct that I did misread a briefing and tell the House of Commons that there was a 30,000 increase in mental health staff when I should have said a 30,000 increase in NHS clinical staff including in mental health…’

Hunt then makes a correction: '... so I have corrected the record. But 12,700 more doctors and 10,600 more nurses on our wards since 2010, including 4,300 more MH staff since 2013 isn't a bad thing surely?'

Hunt then makes a correction: ‘… so I have corrected the record. But 12,700 more doctors and 10,600 more nurses on our wards since 2010, including 4,300 more MH staff since 2013 isn’t a bad thing surely?’

He added: 'But 'more' mental health staff does NOT mean "enough" staff and still too many patients wait too long. That's why we published plans in July for an additional 21,000 posts'

He added: ‘But ‘more’ mental health staff does NOT mean “enough” staff and still too many patients wait too long. That’s why we published plans in July for an additional 21,000 posts’

He continues: 'My biggest area of concern is actually children and young people, because half od all conditions become established before the age of 14. So we will shortly be publishing a green paper on children and young people's mental health to address this'

He continues: ‘My biggest area of concern is actually children and young people, because half od all conditions become established before the age of 14. So we will shortly be publishing a green paper on children and young people’s mental health to address this’

He preemptively answers an imminent question: 'What about the dosh? Extra staff cost money so this is what the data shows last year alone spending on mental health went up by £575m'

He preemptively answers an imminent question: ‘What about the dosh? Extra staff cost money so this is what the data shows last year alone spending on mental health went up by £575m’

He continued: '...with CCGs increasing spend by 6.3% vs an overall increase of 3.7% in their funding - in other words spending up both in absolute terms and as a proportion of NHS spend'

He continued: ‘…with CCGs increasing spend by 6.3% vs an overall increase of 3.7% in their funding – in other words spending up both in absolute terms and as a proportion of NHS spend’

Tweet 16 read: 'This has delivered some notable improvement sin mental health in the last 7 years including the introduction of waiting times standards for psychosis and talking therapies for the first time anywhere in the world (with standards for eating disorders to follow)'

Tweet 16 read: ‘This has delivered some notable improvement sin mental health in the last 7 years including the introduction of waiting times standards for psychosis and talking therapies for the first time anywhere in the world (with standards for eating disorders to follow)’

He then boasted: 'The New York Times praised the expansion of talking therapies as "the world's most ambitious effort to treat depression, anxiety and other common mental illnesses"'

He then boasted: ‘The New York Times praised the expansion of talking therapies as “the world’s most ambitious effort to treat depression, anxiety and other common mental illnesses”‘

He then said: 'We have also seen significant improvements in crisis care including the roll-out of liaison psychiatry to over 90% of A&Es, of which half are 24/7. This may have contributed to a 6% fall in suicide rates'

He then said: ‘We have also seen significant improvements in crisis care including the roll-out of liaison psychiatry to over 90% of A&Es, of which half are 24/7. This may have contributed to a 6% fall in suicide rates’

He continued: 'But there is still MUCH more to do. In fact we are only two years in to a five year plan that will see us treating a million more people by 2020/21 compared to when we started. Here's the plan'

He continued: ‘But there is still MUCH more to do. In fact we are only two years in to a five year plan that will see us treating a million more people by 2020/21 compared to when we started. Here’s the plan’

Tweet 20: Hunt then reminds his followers of the Twitter accusations against him by Ralf by retweeting one

Tweet 20: Hunt then reminds his followers of the Twitter accusations against him by Ralf by retweeting one

Tweet 21 read: 'Perhaps you can see from the facts above why both I and the NHS England Chief Exec DO believe this is the biggest expansion of mental health provision in Europe...'

Tweet 21 read: ‘Perhaps you can see from the facts above why both I and the NHS England Chief Exec DO believe this is the biggest expansion of mental health provision in Europe…’

Tweet 22: He then posted another screenshot of Simon Stevens to back up his claim

Tweet 22: He then posted another screenshot of Simon Stevens to back up his claim

Tweet 23 circles back to Ralf Little's accusations: 'There may be a European country with bigger expansion plans but I have yet to find it. I am sure I don't get everything right but on the basis of evidence no reasonable person could describe the claim as "knowingly lying"'

Tweet 23 circles back to Ralf Little’s accusations: ‘There may be a European country with bigger expansion plans but I have yet to find it. I am sure I don’t get everything right but on the basis of evidence no reasonable person could describe the claim as “knowingly lying”‘

He then tries to strike a deal: 'So let's do a deal: you provide me with evidence that I was - as you claim - deliberately seeking to mislead the public about mental health in my Marr interview & I will happily meet you, factcheckers and all'

He then tries to strike a deal: ‘So let’s do a deal: you provide me with evidence that I was – as you claim – deliberately seeking to mislead the public about mental health in my Marr interview & I will happily meet you, factcheckers and all’

Hunt tries to end the thread with a joke: 'Frankly anyone who has got this far in the thread deserves a medal for endurance and resilience not least because I am nothing like as witty as @ralflittle'

Hunt tries to end the thread with a joke: ‘Frankly anyone who has got this far in the thread deserves a medal for endurance and resilience not least because I am nothing like as witty as @ralflittle’

He promised at this would be his final tweet on the issue: '... I hope you understand that in the rough and tumble of Twitter sometimes we have to put the record straight! I therefore apologis for this interminable long threat and promise this will be my final tweet on the issue'

He promised at this would be his final tweet on the issue: ‘… I hope you understand that in the rough and tumble of Twitter sometimes we have to put the record straight! I therefore apologis for this interminable long threat and promise this will be my final tweet on the issue’

HUNT CAUGHT OUT…

Hunt admitted inflating an increase in mental health workers by 43 times the actual figure during a Commons debate last month.

He misled MPs by claiming there were 30,000 more mental health workers than when the Conservatives won power from Labour in 2010.

However, Hunt in fact was referencing the increase in overall clinical NHS staff – Only 692 more people are working in mental health.

This is just a 0.82 per cent increase from when the Tory-led Coalition was elected.

The rise has been down to a large spike in the number of psychotherapists, despite there being 5,000 fewer mental health nurses than seven years ago. 

His claim came after fellow Tory MP Stephen McPartland asked issue during Heath Questions what steps had been taken to increase the UK’s mental health workforce.

Mr Hunt replied: ‘Our mental health workforce has increased by 30,000 since 2010, and another 21,000 posts are planned.’

But Channel 4 FactCheck spotted the error and prompted an admission from the Department of Health.

A department spokesperson said at the time: ‘This was an error and we will be correcting Hansard accordingly.’ 

The heated exchange had been building up for some time, following Hunt’s House of Commons debate where he used skewed figures.

He then appeared on the Marr Show at the end of last month, where he made the controversial claim about helping the NHS to expand its mental health provision. 

Little tweeted him almost immediately after his appearance on the show, for which he was ridiculed across social media.

However, it took 10 days for Hunt to respond to Little’s initial tweet. The actor then fired off his series of messages a few days later. 

Hunt promised earlier this year to employ 21,000 more people in mental health by 2021 – but experts warn much more is needed.

He said the aim was to treat an extra one million people over the next four years under one of the biggest boosts to mental care in Europe.

Hunt promised mental and physical health services will be integrated as part of a £1.3 billion drive to provide services seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Campaigners have long argued mental health in the UK is woefully underfunded – and warn psychological conditions are not treated as seriously as physical ones.

And inspectors warned in July that thousands of mental health patients are being treated in unsafe hospital units.

Two in five mental health services inspected in the last three years have not met safety requirements, the Care Quality Commission said. 

FUNDING PROBLEMS IN THE NHS

Mental health care has been identified as a major priority by Theresa May, who called shortfalls in services a ‘burning injustice’. 

Hunt recently said mental health needed to be made a priority amid concerns it had been overlooked due to stigma.

Earlier this year, BBC Panorama revealed mental health trusts in England have had their funding cut by £150 million over the past four years.

In May, the Government announced it would create 21,000 mental health posts in the NHS by 2021 as part of a £1.3 billion drive. It was aimed to help treat an extra one million people.

But critics immediately questioned the pledge and doubted that enough people could be trained in such a short space of time. 

Others said it would do little to replace the 6,000 mental health nursing posts lost since 2010. 

Sir Simon Wessely, former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said such staff will have to be ‘cheap and not that well trained’. He warned they would struggle to manage the ‘difficult stuff’. 

Thousands of Twitter users, including psychologists and mental healthcare workers, praised Little's 'destructive' takedown and issued a range of memes mocking Hunt

Thousands of Twitter users, including psychologists and mental healthcare workers, praised Little’s ‘destructive’ takedown and issued a range of memes mocking Hunt

Little tweeted: 'This is what it looks like when a man goes on TV and knowingly lies to the public. If I'm wrong @jeremy_hunt, sue me. I double dare you'

Little tweeted: ‘This is what it looks like when a man goes on TV and knowingly lies to the public. If I’m wrong @jeremy_hunt, sue me. I double dare you’

Hunt responded: '4,300 more employed by mental health trusts, 2,700 more employed in talking therapies, 1,400 more people treated every day since 2010. Isn't it ur job 2 find a major European country that's done better and faster rather than make assertions you can't support? I double dare you [sic]'

Hunt responded: ‘4,300 more employed by mental health trusts, 2,700 more employed in talking therapies, 1,400 more people treated every day since 2010. Isn’t it ur job 2 find a major European country that’s done better and faster rather than make assertions you can’t support? I double dare you [sic]’

Little said: 'So if statistics and facts aren't your thing and you only follow me for the silly jokes - look away now. But if you care about accountability and the NHS, read and RT this THREAD written in reply to @jeremy_hunt'

Little said: ‘So if statistics and facts aren’t your thing and you only follow me for the silly jokes – look away now. But if you care about accountability and the NHS, read and RT this THREAD written in reply to @jeremy_hunt’

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