Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)
The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton), sends her apologies due to a family issue. She is very much in our thoughts today.
Thanks to the decisions taken by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor at the spending review, health capital budgets will increase to £14.6 billion by the end of the spending review period. That will deliver the largest-ever health capital budget in NHS history. Across this settlement, more than £5 billion will be invested to address the most critical building repairs, reducing the most serious and critical infrastructure risks and rebuilding the broken NHS left by the Conservatives.
Helen Maguire
While I welcome the recent announcement of £12 million of extra funding for Epsom and St Helier university hospitals NHS trust, it is quite frankly a drop in the ocean in comparison with the scale of need, because the current backlog at the trust costs £150 million. Patients and staff deserve safe and modern facilities, not patchwork repairs. I therefore ask the Secretary of State to meet with me and visit Epsom and St Helier hospitals to see at first hand the scale of the challenge and how we can accelerate progress.
Wes Streeting
I absolutely appreciate the challenges that the hon. Member describes, having met with the trust myself. The Minister for Secondary Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol South (Karin Smyth) and I have both met with local MPs about the challenges facing Epsom and St Helier. Lord Darzi’s investigation found that the Conservatives left a £37 billion black hole in NHS capital. We are reversing that trend, with the largest-ever capital budget for health. The £12.1 million for Epsom and St Helier trust for estate safety is in addition to the £207 million of capital that the NHS South West London integrated care board is receiving, including for maintenance backlogs. It will take time, but brick by brick Labour is rebuilding our NHS.
Joe Powell
The Imperial College healthcare NHS trust has the largest high-risk repair backlog in the country. The support from the Government estates safety fund is very welcome, but to solve this problem we ultimately need a new St Mary’s hospital. Will the Secretary of State join me in praising the work of the new three-year St Mary’s taskforce, which aims to get to full planning consent and explore different financing models so that we can finally get this hospital built?
Wes Streeting
I thank my hon. Friend for the work that he and my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake) are leading in partnership with the trust and Westminster city council to ensure that the people of his constituency have the hospital they deserve. As he knows, this will be the most complicated scheme in the new hospital programme, but that is no excuse for the years of delay that the scheme has faced. The trust now boasts the biggest high-risk repair backlog in the country, so my hon. Friend is right to ensure that this is not allowed to be put in the “too difficult” pile again. We look forward to engaging constructively and doing everything that we can to expedite the progress that is desperately needed for his community and our city.
Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)
Charlotte Cane (Ely and East Cambridgeshire) (LD)
The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)
After years of underfunding, the Government agreed a record uplift of £3.1 billion for ’25-26 for the pharmacy sector. The pharmacy access scheme provides £19 million to support pharmacies in areas with fewer pharmacies, including in rural areas, but funding must always come with reform. Our hub and spoke legislation, if it is passed in the other place today, will allow pharmacies to streamline their dispensing processes, and it is a major step in the right direction in marrying reform with investment.
Caroline Voaden
I recently visited Modbury pharmacy, where owner Phil Dawes highlighted the challenges facing small rural pharmacies. He explained how the current funding model does not take into account the lower footfall and limited referral rates that are common in rural areas. We know that if a pharmacy in a small market town closes, it can cause extreme difficulties for people to access advice and medicines, particularly where there is little or no public transport and they have to go a long way. Will the Government consider introducing rural exceptions or adjusted funding thresholds so that we can keep community pharmacies open?
Stephen Kinnock
The pharmacy sector is facing huge challenges after massive cuts over the past 14 years. We are beginning to rebuild, but the hon. Lady is right that there are particular challenges for rural pharmacies. We are looking at comprehensive reform in the pharmacy sector involving the better use of technology, hub and spoke dispensing, and a range of other options that would enable better remote dispensing for rural pharmacies.
Charlotte Cane
I have visited pharmacies across my constituency. They are all struggling to provide a service, but are all very keen to take on the new services that the NHS is suggesting. Will the Minister commit to ensuring that rural and community pharmacies are properly staffed and equipped to deliver those community services, such as diabetes testing and weight management treatments, so that patients are not left behind just because of where they live?
Stephen Kinnock
The hon. Lady is right that pharmacies will play a central role in the shift from hospital to community that we will be putting at the heart of our 10-year plan. An important part of that, of course, is Pharmacy First. The take-up of Pharmacy First is not what we would like it to be, so we are looking at options to increase awareness of Pharmacy First and to free up pharmacists to be able to operate at the top of their licence. Part of that is about streamlining the dispensing side of what they do, and the hub and spoke legislation that I mentioned earlier will be really important in that context.
Steve Yemm (Mansfield) (Lab)
The Minister has spoken many times about the importance of shifting from hospital to the community. I have visited many local pharmacies and met the chair of Community Pharmacy Nottinghamshire, seeing at first hand the important work they do to support communities in Mansfield. Does the Minister agree that community pharmacies have a key role to play in that shift and could help to take pressure off GP surgeries?
Stephen Kinnock
My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I commend him for the work he is doing in his constituency, including with pharmacies. In many ways, what we want to see is a culture change, because the interface between general practice and community pharmacy is not where it should be. We believe that pharmacists have a huge amount more to offer, but that requires a better digital interface and better information sharing—a single patient record. That sort of vehicle will be really important for delivering some of those reforms.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
I am pleased to hear the Minister speak about Pharmacy First, which was brought forward by the previous Government and welcomed by communities, the public and the pharmacists. Although I am pleased to see the Government continue it, why have they decided to cap the number of consultations that a pharmacist may do?
Stephen Kinnock
Part of that is about the financial arrangements for Pharmacy First, which need to be set at a level that incentivises pharmacists. Sadly, given the way in which the scheme was set up under the previous Government, those incentives were not working, which is one reason why the take-up of Pharmacy First has not been what it needs to be. It is a question not of capping but much more one of getting the right level of financial compensation for Pharmacy First so that it works and incentivises the system.
Dr Evans
I am grateful to the Minister for his answer, but part of the problem is that once pharmacists hit that cap, they are no longer paid the £17 per consultation. In turn, that means that either patients will be turned away, or the pharmacist must take the hit and pay for it themselves. That disjoins the system and could create extra costs, because patients who are turned away will turn up in other areas of primary care, such as their GP surgery. How does that fit with Darzi’s push towards community-based services?
Stephen Kinnock
The hon. Gentleman will have seen—and I am sure will welcome—the record uplift of £3.1 billion that we are putting into the pharmacy sector after years of underfunding, incompetence and neglect from the Conservative party. A big part of this is ensuring that the shift from hospital to community takes place, and we want pharmacists to be taking pressure off primary care. We have to make Pharmacy First work effectively, which means getting the allocation of funding right. That is what we are working on in terms of reforms. Now that we have the spending review and the package, that is what we will be delivering.
Sadik Al-Hassan (North Somerset) (Lab)
The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)
Increasing the resilience of the UK medical supply chain is a key priority. I regularly meet the team to routinely take action to mitigate supply issues, including requesting additional stock, identifying alternative global sources and issuing management advice. Although the Department has no plans to conduct a specific review, we constantly work to identify and take forward further actions to reduce the impact of medicine shortages, including targeted winter monitoring.
Sadik Al-Hassan
Having worked in community pharmacies for nearly 20 years, I have witnessed at first hand the pain that medicine shortages can cause North Somerset patients and their loved ones. Will the Minister meet me, along with my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Steve Race) and other members of the all-party parliamentary group on pharmacy, to discuss the outcome of our inquiry into these shortages?
Karin Smyth
I congratulate my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour on his dedicated career in community pharmacy, and thank him for the expertise that he brings to the work of the all-party parliamentary group to help Members understand the impact of this issue on patients and pharmacies. I am planning to hold a parliamentary event on the subject in the autumn, and I am keen to work with the APPG to make it a success for all Members.
Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
Supply chain problems are just one of the many issues that are having an impact on community pharmacies. My local pharmacy in Noak Bridge is one of them, but it is also being hammered with national insurance increases, and the combination of these issues means that its long-term viability is at stake. Will the review that the Minister has mentioned include all the impacts on community pharmacies that are affecting their long-term viability?
Karin Smyth
The long-term viability of pharmacies and, indeed, the whole NHS was under threat from the right hon. Gentleman and his party, but thanks to this Government, it is being made fit for the future. This is a serious issue for all our constituents, and we want to make the system work better. The right hon. Gentleman will see from the 10-year plan that we will make the NHS fit for his constituents, mine and those of every other Member.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
Across the country, community pharmacies struggle not only with supply chain problems but with dispensing some of the critical medicines for our constituents at a loss. I was concerned to read that higher prices for United States pharmaceuticals are on the table for the next stage of trade negotiations with Donald Trump, because an additional £1.5 billion would cost both the NHS and our community pharmacies dear. What steps is the Department taking to ensure that the NHS, and the vital medicine supply on which we rely, will not be used as a bargaining chip in a trade deal with a highly unreliable US President?
Karin Smyth
The hon. Lady has asked an important question about the pharmaceutical industry, which is key to the country’s growth mission and to supporting all our constituents and the entire country. As we know, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is currently attending the G7 summit. We have good relationships with America, and the Department is working closely across Government to ensure that the same stability of supply remains for our constituents.
Naushabah Khan (Gillingham and Rainham) (Lab)
Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)
The Government inherited a ludicrous situation whereby patients could not get a GP appointment and GPs could not get a job, so one of my first acts was to cut red tape to give practices flexibility to hire GPs, along with an extra £82 million investment. Thanks to that combination of investment and reform, this Government have recruited an additional 1,700 GPs to the frontline since July, exceeding our target of 1,000. We have invested an extra £889 million in general practice this year, taking action to bring back the family doctor. We do not pretend to have solved all the problems, but change has begun and the best is still to come.
Naushabah Khan
I welcome the Government’s commitment to restoring the family doctor, and the recruitment of 1,700 additional GPs nationwide, but my constituency has yet to benefit from that. Concern has been expressed to me about the expansion of the additional roles reimbursement scheme to include only newly qualified GPs, which it is feared may be too restrictive. I have met local GP partners who share that concern, so will the Secretary of State meet us to discuss how the scheme can better support areas such as mine?
Wes Streeting
We are investing an extra £900 million in general practice, and have reformed the GP contract to help bring back the family doctor and end the 8 am scramble. That contract reform included further changes to make it easier to recruit GPs through the scheme. As my hon. Friend will see shortly when we publish the 10-year plan for health, general practice is at the heart of our proposals to build a neighbourhood health service. I am keen to work with her and with GPs to make it even easier to ensure that qualified GPs can get jobs and patients can get GP appointments, and I should be delighted to meet her.
Luke Murphy
After 14 years of the Conservatives running down the frontline of the NHS, many people in Basingstoke still struggle to gain access to their GPs. One issue that patients and GPs raise time and again is the lack of capital investment in new provision to meet growing housing need. Chineham medical practice, for example, was built to serve just 8,000 patients but now serves more than 18,000, and is set to serve many thousands more in the years to come. What more are the Government doing to enable every patient in Basingstoke to see their GP when they need to?
Wes Streeting
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Just as this Government are delivering record home building with a huge target to build the homes that Britain needs, we also need to ensure that people get the local services that they deserve. That is exactly why this Government have invested an extra £102 million this year to create additional clinical space in over 1,000 GP practices, which will create new consultation rooms and make better use of existing space to deliver more appointments. I know the Chineham medical practice was one of the practices put forward by its integrated care board for funding, so I hope we will see that practice benefiting from this investment in the near future as we rebuild our NHS.
Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)
The Government’s additional roles reimbursement scheme led to just three new GPs for my constituents in Wokingham, which is a drop in the ocean. More needs to be done to deliver GP practices in new developments such as Arborfield in south Wokingham. Why did Ministers not support the Liberal Democrat amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that would have made commitments to build GP surgeries in all new housing developments legally binding?
Wes Streeting
Probably because being that prescriptive about every housing development is not sensible, even if the thrust of what the hon. Member describes—that as new housing development is built, we need to ensure that local infrastructure goes alongside it—is the right approach. I take what he says about the number of GPs, and as I have said, we do not pretend to have fixed all the problems in 11 months, but with respect, those are three more GPs than were there before. I know there is more to do, but give me time, and we will rebuild general practice for his constituents and anyone else’s.
Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)
Access to GPs in my constituency of Chichester is being undermined by the closure of the Westbourne branch of Emsworth medical practice at the end of this month. Patients will now have to travel to Emsworth, but we are talking about a small rural village, and there is no public transport to get my elderly and vulnerable patients to that medical practice over the border. Will the Secretary of State please meet me to urgently discuss how we can protect this vital service in a rural village in Chichester?
Wes Streeting
I can well understand the hon. Member’s concern and her constituents’ concern. Practice closures are hard on communities wherever they are, but they disproportionately hit rural communities and those that suffer with poor transport connectivity. I would urge her in the first instance to raise the specific local issues with the ICB. However, I reassure her and other right hon. and hon. Members that the needs of rural, coastal and remote communities are very much in our mind—and, crucially, in the 10-year plan—and our thinking about how we build genuine neighbourhood health services in all types of neighbourhood.
Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)
The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)
I know this is an important issue for the hon. Member from the meeting we had about it last year. This Government are supporting local providers by recruiting an additional 8,500 mental health workers by the end of this Parliament. We are also expanding NHS talking therapies and piloting six new 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, including Hope Haven serving Whitehaven and rural Copeland.
Tim Farron
I thank the Minister for his reply, but this month the Care Quality Commission found high levels of staff vacancies in the already understaffed psychiatric intensive care units and acute mental health wards in South Cumbria, concluding that this is putting patient safety “at risk”. Yet, worryingly, the ICB in South Cumbria is making additional cuts of £142 million this year, with North Cumbria also making cuts. In the light of that, what is his plan to intervene to ensure that mental health staffing in Cumbria is increased to safe levels?
Stephen Kinnock
I thank the hon. Member for that. There is no doubt that the NHS, universities and others need to do more to get students, trainees and qualified doctors and mental health specialists in places where the NHS and patients need them. We will publish a refreshed workforce plan later this year to ensure that the NHS has the right people in the right places to care for patients when they need it.
Chris Kane (Stirling and Strathallan) (Lab)
The SNP has cut mental health services across Scotland, while failing to recruit the necessary workforce in rural communities such as those in Stirling and Strathallan. What assessment has the Department made of how devolved mismanagement of mental health services is affecting outcomes for patients in rural Scotland?
Stephen Kinnock
If we were to make an assessment of the way in which the SNP has mismanaged its responsibilities in Scotland we would be here for a very long time. I am not sure I can answer my hon. Friend’s question in the round, but I am sure that colleagues from the SNP will be welcoming the record investment that the UK Government have made in Scotland. I am certainly looking forward to the improved outcomes that they will be delivering as a result.
Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Con)
The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)
The spending review announced increases in NHS spending alongside more money for adult social care. By investing in DEXA scanners, we can more rapidly treat conditions such as osteoporosis, which particularly affect elderly women. Our urgent and emergency care plan promotes falls prevention technology for longer independent living and fewer hospital admissions. GPs are now incentivised to improve continuity of care, benefiting patients with long-term conditions.
Andrew Rosindell
I thank the Minister for his reply, but as the Secretary of State knows only too well, my borough of Havering contains one of the highest numbers of elderly people in the entire London region, yet Queen’s hospital in Romford remains chronically underfunded, overstretched and struggling to meet the growing healthcare needs of an ageing community. Will the Minister commit today to the serious investment that Queen’s hospital so desperately requires to ensure better health outcomes for older people across Romford?
Stephen Kinnock
I carefully note the fact that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who is sitting next to me, has an interest in this issue, so I will tread very carefully with my answer. I understand that the hon. Gentleman has discussed this matter with the Minister for Secondary Care. The North East London health and care partnership integrated care board is responsible for delivery, implementation and funding decisions for local services, but the hon. Gentleman’s representations have been carefully noted today, not least by the Secretary of State for Health.
Mr Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)
One of the most important things we can do to support the health of the elderly is to ensure that they can get to see their local doctor. It is great to hear the Health Secretary talk about the improved access to appointments—we are seeing that in Chesterfield—but he is also right to say that it is the first step back up the mountain. The Government inherited a real crisis in GP access and the situation is particularly difficult in more deprived areas. Will my hon. Friend tell me what more we will do to ensure that people are able to see a GP, and in particular that practices that serve the most deprived communities can get access to the extra GPs they need?
Stephen Kinnock
My hon. Friend will know that when we came into Government we inherited the absurd situation where the additional roles reimbursement scheme was weighed down by red tape and it was not actually possible to recruit GPs. We changed that. We invested an extra £82 million and as a result we have well over 1,000 more GPs on the frontline, but that is just the beginning. We have contract reform and £889 million of additional investment in general practice, and we are moving forward with an online booking system, which will be obligatory by 1 October. We have much more work to do—for example, around the interface with pharmacy; we are working hard on that. There is a lot more to do, but my hon. Friend is right that the first step up the mountain has been taken.
Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)
Last health questions, I asked about delays to crucial medications in A&E and the Secretary of State said he was interested to hear more, but his office said he would delegate it to a Minister and we still have not been offered a date, so could I encourage him to look into that, please? The U-turn on winter fuel will help the elderly to stay warm and healthy this winter, but another way to help elderly people would be to protect them from the respiratory syncytial virus. Will the Government extend the vaccination to the over-80s?
Stephen Kinnock
I thank the hon. Lady for that question, but I did not quite catch the word she used. The virus was called? [Interruption.] Oh—RSV, yes. We are certainly looking at increasing the coverage of the RSV vaccination. I do not have the statistics to hand at the moment, but I would be happy to write to her on that point.
Dr Johnson
Many of those on waiting lists are elderly and have chronic conditions; rather than seeing consultants at regular intervals, which may coincide with them being relatively well, they are often kept on open appointments so that they can call when they are ill. This is efficient and responsive care. Is the Minister aware that this provision is being stopped in some areas in order to improve figures? I will quote from a letter about an elderly patient:
“I regret cannot keep him on my waiting list under the open appointment”
for treatment, and,
“I have explained the politics of everything and where we are at.”
Being re-referred to a GP each time is expensive and a waste of time. Can the Minister explain why doctors are being asked to make decisions for political reasons, instead of clinical ones?
Stephen Kinnock
I do not think any decisions are being made for political reasons—our medical and health staff are very much focused on doing the right thing from a clinical point of view. The hon. Lady raises an important point about continuity of care, with people constantly having to be re-referred into the system. Part of the reason for that is the utter incompetence with which the previous Government managed our primary care system, which has resulted in people being passed from pillar to post, the additional roles reimbursement scheme not actually being about having GPs on the frontline, but about having other staff, which creates more friction in the system, and poorer continuity of care. This Government are going to bring back the family doctor—that is the way to get our general practice back on its feet.
Mark Ferguson (Gateshead Central and Whickham) (Lab)
Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)
This Government are delivering record investment in our NHS, but that investment is drawn from taxpayers, and we have a responsibility to every taxpayer in the land—as well as to patients—to ensure that every single penny is well spent. That is why that investment is matched with bold reform, so that we get as much value as possible for every penny. The abolition of NHS England will slash duplication and unnecessary bureaucracy, and I am pleased to report to the House that we have slashed spending on agency staff by almost £1 billion compared with last year. All those savings are being reinvested into frontline care.
Mark Ferguson
From speaking to my local NHS trust in Gateshead, I know the value it places on driving costs down, but it still faces financial pressures. Key among those are issues related to the digital capital gap. We are really keen in Gateshead to improve that situation and to allow more people to access the NHS remotely. Will the Secretary of State meet me and Gateshead NHS trust to talk about how we can tackle that?
Wes Streeting
I would be delighted to do so. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: we have to ensure that the NHS is not only benefiting from, but at the forefront of the revolution taking place in digital services and medical technology. It is key to driving productivity and financial sustainability. That is why, at the spending review, the Chancellor announced that we would invest up to £10 billion in NHS technology and digital transformation; unlike our predecessors, we will not raid tech budgets to plug shortfalls in day-to-day spending. Just this month, we announced the modernisation of the NHS app, so that patients can receive test results and book appointments, saving £200 million in stamps, envelopes and letters.
Lillian Jones
I thank the Secretary of State for his earlier reply. In Scotland, there are more quangos than MSPs. After four years and £30 million of taxpayers’ cash down the drain, the SNP has scrapped its plans for a national care service—its flagship policy—which was seen as a significant setback for Scottish social care reform, and now we have people going to the pub in chauffeur-driven ministerial cars. Will the Secretary of State advise his Scottish counterpart on how to stop wasting Scottish taxpayers’ money?
Wes Streeting
Given the state of the NHS in Scotland, I suspect my counterpart needed to go and drown his sorrows. The truth is that the longer the SNP is in government, the longer the NHS in Scotland is on the road to nowhere. The SNP is now on its fifth health plan in four years. Thanks to the decisions taken by the Chancellor, it is not just the NHS in England that is receiving record investment, but the Scottish Government. I have used that investment to cut waiting lists by almost a quarter of a million people; the same could be true in Scotland, if the Scottish people boot out the SNP and elect Anas Sarwar and Jackie Baillie to deliver the change that Scotland’s NHS needs.
Danny Kruger (East Wiltshire) (Con)
A good way to save money in the NHS is to invest in palliative and end-of-life care, because it averts costs that would otherwise go into the acute sector, including into ambulances. However, this Government are taking money from that sector through their national insurance rises. Given that integrated care boards are supposed to commission palliative care, will the Secretary of State commit in the 10-year health plan to a proper revenue funding model for hospices, and for a minimum service specification for palliative care?
Wes Streeting
I can reassure the hon. Member that end-of-life care is featured in the 10-year plan for health. I also recognise the pressure on our hospice sector, which is why this Government, as well as delivering £26 million through the children’s hospice grant, committed £100 million of capital investment— the biggest in a generation for our hospices. None the less, hospices do rely on the generosity of donors and I am keen to work in partnership with the sector to look at what more we can do to encourage investment. The final thing I would say is that the Opposition parties welcomed the investment in the national health service while opposing the means of raising it. They cannot have it both ways; either they support the investment and the revenue raisers or they have to be honest with the public that they would be cutting the NHS.
Seamus Logan (Aberdeenshire North and Moray East) (SNP)
One of the most egregious examples of waste in recent years was the almost £10 billion spent on useless personal protective equipment during the pandemic. When the Treasury eventually recovers some of that money, will the Secretary of State assure me that Scottish taxpayers will benefit in the usual way through the usual channels?
Wes Streeting
Fiscal decisions and spending are matters for my right hon. Friend the Chancellor, but let me reassure the hon. Gentleman of two things. First, the way in which the taxpayers of this country were ripped off during a national emergency was a total disgrace, and this Government are determined to get our money back and reinvest it in frontline services, where it should always have been. Secondly, I can reassure him that, so long as there is a Labour Government here in Westminster, Scotland will continue to benefit from the investment it needs to sort out its public services. Now it just needs a Labour Government in Scotland to spend that money wisely.
James Asser (West Ham and Beckton) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)
This Government are committed to fixing the NHS and reducing A&E waiting times. Our new urgent and emergency care plan is backed by nearly £400 million of investment to deliver new urgent treatment centres, mental health assessment centres and almost 400 new ambulances. Alongside that investment, we are reforming urgent and emergency care so that more patients are treated at the scene or in their homes where appropriate, which is better for them and will help to unclog A&E departments. Lots has been done, but there is much more to do.
James Asser
The Minister for Secondary Care recently visited my constituency and saw the pressures that Newham hospital A&E was under. That is partly due to the pressures left by the previous Conservative Government, and partly due to capacity issues resulting from a massive growth in population in the borough. Further pressures will come as we regenerate the massive areas of brownfield site in the Royal Docks. Can the Secretary of State reassure my constituents that, as well as the excellent work being done on day-to-day capacity, we will be looking at infrastructure over the longer term to make sure that we are not only dealing with the growth that we have had, but future-proofing for the population growth to come?
Wes Streeting
I know that my hon. Friend the Minister for Secondary Care enjoyed her visit, and I thank the staff at Newham hospital for the work they do, which also benefits my constituents. We need to make sure that we are supporting hospitals across our country to meet need, because we are part of a wider ecosystem—I noticed that that point was also powerfully made by the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) in his question. My hon. Friend the Member for West Ham and Beckton (James Asser) is right to raise increasing demand and pressures, which is why we will shortly publish our 10-year plan for health. I am happy to report that Whipps Cross and Newham hospitals have also been provisionally allocated £28 million this year to improve buildings and estates.
Mr Louie French (Old Bexley and Sidcup) (Con)
The Government continue to claim that they wish to expand community diagnostic centres to speed up scanning and treatment of patients and therefore reduce demand on the likes of A&E. If that is the case, why are they cutting the revenue tariffs that were available to the community diagnostic centres under the previous Conservative Government, which has already impacted the financial viability of the CDCs and access for patients?
Wes Streeting
I think the hon. Gentleman will find that, since this Government came to power, we have reduced the size of NHS waiting lists by a quarter of a million. NHS waiting lists are coming down—latest figures show that this is the first time in 17 years that waiting lists have fallen in the month of April—so we are making progress, not least thanks to the investment that we are putting into community diagnostic centres. The hon. Gentleman has some brass neck to complain about NHS services under this Government, when we are cleaning up the mess that the previous Government left behind.
Olivia Blake (Sheffield Hallam) (Lab)
The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)
The Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 banned the use of commercial sunbeds for under-18s, requiring businesses to prevent under-age use. The Department has commissioned the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment to review the Act, including the effectiveness of the under-18 ban.
Olivia Blake
According to Cancer Research UK, 86% of melanoma skin cancer cases are preventable. My constituent Charlotte, who has stage 4 melanoma, is leading a campaign alongside Melanoma Focus to get better enforcement for the ban on sunbeds for under-18s and to stop the use of harmful melanotan II products such as tanning nasal sprays and injections. For under-35s, just one session on the sunbed is enough UV exposure to increase the risk of melanoma to 59%. Prevention is better than cure. Will the Minister meet us to discuss the effectiveness of the ban and preventive measures such as access to free sunscreen at events?
Karin Smyth
As someone who was diagnosed myself with an earlier stage melanoma, I really commend the work of my hon. Friend’s constituent. I never used sunbeds and I spent holidays in my youth in Ireland, so I never saw much sun either—sorry to the Irish tourism board. As my hon. Friend says, it is an overwhelmingly preventable cancer, including by using sunscreen, better clothing, shading and no sunbeds. It is up to event organisers to provide sunscreen at events, but my hon. Friend is right. I want to personally thank Melanoma Focus for the support it gave me during my diagnosis. There are great charities out there to support people. I am sure a Minister will be in contact with my hon. Friend and her constituent soon to highlight the prevention aspects of this disease.
Cameron Thomas (Tewkesbury) (LD)
Until his recent death, my constituent Luke Webster had lived with alternating hemiplegia of childhood. His life was short and he spent much of it being moved between different care facilities, to the frustration of his family. At one such facility, Luke was abused. Will the Minister meet me and Luke’s mother to discuss improved safeguards—
Mike Martin (Tunbridge Wells) (LD)
The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)
More patients are now getting world-leading testing technology in the NHS as part of our mission to revolutionise cancer care in this country. The Government are spending £600 million a year in capital on diagnostics, including for the first time funding for the automation of histopathology laboratories to improve productivity. We are also funding pathology networks to reach digital maturity by 2026, which will reduce unnecessary waits and repeated tests.
Mike Martin
My constituent Julian noticed that he had a mole on his chest that was growing and bleeding. Members of his family had died from skin cancer, so he was very concerned and went to his GP. He was referred to the Kent integrated dermatology service and was told that the results would come back in four weeks. They came back in 17 weeks. I know that this issue is of personal concern to the Minister, so would she please investigate what happened and write to me?
Karin Smyth
The hon. Member raises an awful case on behalf of his constituent. Of course, our targeting of waiting lists includes diagnostics. What happened in that case should not happen anywhere, and I will ensure that he gets a response as soon as possible.
Mr Bayo Alaba (Southend East and Rochford) (Lab)
Paulette Hamilton (Birmingham Erdington) (Lab)
The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)
Reducing waiting times for cancer diagnosis remains a key priority. Under this Government, an extra 99,000 patients have had cancer diagnosed or ruled out. This has been supported by investment, including in Cancer 360—a digital innovation that brings patient data into one central platform—and in NHS England’s cancer innovation open call to fast-track cutting-edge interventions into practice. Our forthcoming national cancer plan will set out how we will speed up cancer diagnosis even further.
Mr Alaba
Our Labour Government have recently invested in a new state-of-the-art linear accelerator machine in Southend hospital. The machine is the first of its type in the country and will drastically improve cancer treatments. Please can the Minister outline how record levels of investment, such as in the LINAC machine and as announced at the spending review, will finally mean that the NHS will be there when we need it?
Karin Smyth
I am delighted that my hon. Friend’s constituents will benefit from the £70 million investment. These machines are game changing and will reduce the number of visits for his constituents. They are also more reliable, which gives more capacity to the system. That is better for staff, as there will be less appointment cancellations. That is exactly the sort of thing we want to see more of, and we are delivering that under this Government. It is the result of our drive to reduce long waits and treat more people quicker. That was reinforced in last week’s spending review, and it is exactly what his constituents deserve.
Paulette Hamilton
Early diagnosis of less survivable cancers is vital if survival rates are to improve. What assessment has the Department made of the report by the all-party parliamentary group on less survivable cancers that looks at earlier detection and faster diagnosis, and what steps are the Department taking to deliver on this?
Karin Smyth
My hon. Friend is right to highlight that issue. I commend her great work not just on the APPG but on leading the Health and Social Care Committee on behalf of its Chair, the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran). She is right to highlight that it is a priority for the Government to diagnose cancers earlier and improve survival rates. That is particularly important for the group of people with rare cancers. The APPG’s report will inform the development of our national cancer plan, which will seek to include all aspects of care throughout the entirety of the cancer pathway.
Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)
Part of a successful cancer journey is swift cancer treatment as well as swift diagnosis. My constituent Catherine was diagnosed last year with stage 3 breast cancer. She had a mastectomy and went through chemotherapy. She was then meant to begin a course of radiotherapy in December, but as of May that still had not begun. What can the Department do to ensure that those unacceptable delays do not happen and lives can be saved?
Karin Smyth
Many hon. Members across the House rightly highlight the actual experience of people throughout the entire pathway. We have heard about the investment we are making in machines and in staff to ensure, on exactly this point, that people get not just that faster diagnosis—that is so important, particularly if cancer is ruled out—but faster care across the entire pathway. The majority of people on waiting lists are on them for diagnostics, which is exactly why we are investing more in capital and investing in staff to ensure that the process is quicker and better for patients. If the hon. Member wants to write to me about any particular issues, I will obviously respond to her.
Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)
Every 17 minutes, someone in Yorkshire is told that they have cancer. Tomorrow, I will be launching a report for Yorkshire Cancer Research, which is based in my constituency, that will set out key recommendations. Will the Minister meet us to talk about how we can feed them into the national cancer plan?
Karin Smyth
The work that the hon. Member is doing locally with that group is essential. I will ensure that we have a good response for him, whether it is meeting me or a colleague.
Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)
The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)
We are getting the NHS back on its feet and making it fit for the future by shifting care to the community with £889 million more for GPs, 1,700 additional frontline GPs, 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments annually and a 19% uplift to the community pharmacy contract. Looking to the future, our commitment to building a neighbourhood health service is right at the heart of our 10-year plan.
Laura Kyrke-Smith
I am delighted by the Government’s commitment to moving healthcare closer to the community, including through the establishment of neighbourhood health centres. That is exactly what we need in Aylesbury, and I am pleased that all our key healthcare providers, including the NHS trust and several GP practices, are already working together to better integrate their care, which is an important step in the right direction. Will the Minister update me on his progress towards the model of neighbourhood-based healthcare? Can he advise what more Aylesbury’s healthcare providers can do to ensure that my residents benefit from the Government’s work in this area?
Stephen Kinnock
It is really good to hear about the fantastic work going on in my hon. Friend’s constituency. We are working with systems to move to a neighbourhood health model by building on existing good practice, particularly around the development of multidisciplinary teams. Aylesbury is an outstanding example of that. Ahead of the 10-year health plan’s publication, local communities can continue to make progress by utilising the neighbourhood health guidelines that were published back in January.
Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)
Dental patients with untreated need end up in hospitals. In places like Hedon in my constituency, we have seen more and more dental practices moving away from the NHS. I have a constituent who found it took her three years to get her child their first check-up, and that dental practice has now ceased to look after NHS patients. She also cannot get the NHS treatment she deserves herself, even though she had a child in February. What in the 10-year plan will change that and ensure that everyone can get access to NHS dentistry?
Stephen Kinnock
The right hon. Member is right to point to children’s dental health. After we won the election in July, I looked across my portfolio and it was pretty much a car crash in every aspect, thanks to the incompetence of previous Governments. Perhaps the most shocking statistic of all is that the biggest reason five to nine-year-old children are admitted to hospital is to have their rotten teeth removed. That is a Dickensian state of affairs. We are working with the British Dental Association on contract reform. We have got to incentivise NHS dentistry, do away with the false economy set up under the last Government and get dentistry back to where it needs to be.
Michelle Welsh (Sherwood Forest) (Lab)
The saying goes that it takes a village to raise a baby, meaning that those in our community provide families with vital support. Does the Minister agree that we need to invest in more community midwives to ensure that families are properly supported through the whole of pregnancy and after birth?
Stephen Kinnock
I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. The role that midwives play, alongside other community health services such as district nurses, has been chronically underfunded and neglected over the past 14 years. She will be pleased to know that the role of community healthcare is front and centre in our 10-year plan, and I think she will be interested in and pleased with what she sees when that plan is published.
Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)
The Darzi report pointed out that 13% of hospital beds are occupied by people who are fit for discharge but who cannot get out because social care is broken. Lord Darzi said that we cannot fix the NHS until we fix social care. It is nearly six months since the Secretary of State promised cross-party talks and a commission, but the talks were cancelled and never rescheduled and the commission is delayed. Please, when will the Government stop going slow on social care? Please, when can we all get around the table to talk about fixing social care so that everyone gets the care they deserve?
Stephen Kinnock
I have to correct the hon. Lady: the commission is up and running, Baroness Casey has started meetings and she had a roundtable just a few weeks ago with people who have lived experience. The hon. Lady is therefore not correct on that point and I am sure that she will want to correct the record.
On the point about delayed discharge, the hon. Lady is absolutely right. We are reforming the better care fund to get much better interface between hospitals, care and local authorities. That system and those relationships can and should work much better, but there are pressing, long-term challenges. We are conscious of that and are working at pace with Baroness Casey to ensure that those reforms are delivered.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
As we have just heard, it is widely acknowledged that the crisis in social care is a cause of dangerously high occupancy rates in hospitals that lead to the horrors of corridor care, the dreadful ambulance waiting times that we have seen and a knock-on effect on the community. When I was contacted by the family of a terminally ill man in Wem in my constituency last month, I was reminded that not only is care often provided in the wrong place, but it is often not available at all. Will the Government bring forward the timeline for the horribly delayed Casey review to report back, get it done this year and heed Liberal Democrat calls for cross-party talks so that we can agree on a long-term solution for the crisis?
Stephen Kinnock
May I just tackle the idea that we are not working at pace on these issues? We have had the unpaid carer’s uplift from £151 to £196, which is the biggest uplift in carer’s allowance since the 1970s when the policy was brought in; hundreds of millions of pounds’ uplift in the disabled facilities grant; and groundbreaking legislation for a fair pay agreement for care workers. Those are just some of the immediate steps that we have taken. The first phase of the Casey review will report next year and we continue to work closely with Baroness Casey to deliver the reforms that are so desperately needed after 14 years of neglect, including a number of years when the Liberal Democrats were in government.
Charlie Dewhirst (Bridlington and The Wolds) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)
Waiting lists are at their lowest level for two years, we have taken almost a quarter of a million patients off waiting lists and for the first time in 17 years waiting lists were cut in April. There is a long way to go, but this Government are finally putting the NHS on the road to recovery. Through our plan for change, I have announced that the NHS will also be at the forefront of the revolution in life sciences. Through the NHS app, patients will be linked up with relevant trials to boost our life sciences sector, generate investment for the NHS and develop the medicines of the future.
Charlie Dewhirst
It is nearly four years since Professor Sir Chris Whitty published his striking report on health in coastal communities. Covid inevitably delayed implementation, so will the Secretary of State look again at that report, deliver on the chief medical officer’s recommendations and ensure that my constituents in Bridlington and The Wolds can access the health services that they need?
Wes Streeting
The hon. Gentleman is right to commend Sir Chris Whitty’s report. We have taken that into consideration, as well as the wider consultation we did in preparation for our 10-year plan for health, which will commit to tackling the gross health inequalities that affect our country, particularly in rural and coastal communities.
Chris Bloore (Redditch) (Lab)
Wes Streeting
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. It is thanks to the fact that his constituents sent him to this House of Commons that we have a Labour Government able to deliver, with him, for his community.
Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)
May I, through the Secretary of State, pass on my best wishes to the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the hon. Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton)? In front of the Health and Social Care Committee in January, NHS England’s then chief financial officer set out that pretty much all the additional funding to the NHS last year would be absorbed by pay rises, national insurance contributions and inflation. What proportion of the latest additional funding will be absorbed in the same way?
Wes Streeting
First, I just do not buy the argument that investing in our staff is somehow not investing in the NHS. Who on earth do the Opposition think provides the treatment, delivers the care, organises the clinics and delivers the services? Even in this great new world of technology, the NHS will always be a people-based service and I am proud that this is a Government who deliver for staff. We are also waging war on waste, and that is how we can deliver fair pay for staff and improve care for patients. If only the Conservatives had done that when they had the chance.
Edward Argar
The right hon. Gentleman could not answer that question, but hopefully we will get a more positive response to this one. I recently had the privilege of meeting Dr Susan Michaelis and her husband Tristan, who have set up the Lobular Moon Shot Project, which large numbers of Members of all parties across the House have backed. They are seeking £20 million over five years—a tiny sum in the context of the overall NHS budget—to research lobular breast cancer, which Susan is currently battling, to help improve outcomes. Her immediate ask is even simpler: it is for the Secretary of State to meet her in person to discuss the campaign and its aims. He is a decent man. Will he agree to do that?
Wes Streeting
I thank the shadow Secretary of State for his question and, even more importantly, I thank the amazing campaigners for what they are doing. This is probably the easiest question he is ever going to ask me. The answer is, of course, an emphatic yes.
Katrina Murray (Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch) (Lab)
Wes Streeting
Can I first thank my hon. Friend the Minister for Care for the considerable amount of work he has done to support the House as it makes its deliberations on this important issue? Of course, the Government are neutral; it is for the House to decide. There is not money allocated to set up the service in the Bill at present, but it is for Members of this House and the other place, should the Bill proceed, to decide whether to proceed. That is a decision that this Government will respect either way.
Katie Lam (Weald of Kent) (Con)
Wes Streeting
I should just say for the record that it is thanks to my friends at the Treasury that we are able to do so much to invest in our health service. It is important to put that on record ahead of the Budget. The hon. Lady raises a really serious issue, and we are looking carefully at what we can do to ensure that we get great people into our health service and that they can look forward to a great career. We are not in the right place as a country now; we need to be in a better place. The 10-year plan will set out our ambitions on workforce and we will publish a new workforce plan later this year.
Daniel Francis (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Lab)
The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)
I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. The Government are carefully considering the work of the patient safety commissioner and her report, which sets out the options for redress. This is a complex issue involving input from different Government Departments. We will provide a further update on the commissioner’s report soon.
Graham Leadbitter (Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey) (SNP)
My constituency, in Scotland, has a significant shortage of health and social care workers, despite extensive efforts to advertise recruitment to get people in, as replicated in parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The rug has been pulled out from under that by the changes to immigration policy and visas for that sector. Will the Secretary of State commit to pushing this harder in Cabinet to ensure that we can have more geographic and sectoral visas?
Wes Streeting
I am really proud of the contribution that overseas workers make to health and social care services across our country. If they all left tomorrow, the services would simply collapse. But I think there is an overreliance on overseas staff in health and care services, and that is contributing to levels of net migration that are simply unsustainable. I have a responsibility to help the Home Secretary bring those numbers down and to give opportunities, through better pay and career progression, to home-grown talent, and that is what we will do.
Markus Campbell-Savours (Penrith and Solway) (Lab)
The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)
I am sorry to hear about the issues that my hon. Friend’s constituents are experiencing. I understand that he has raised the issue with the North East and North Cumbria ICB, which is investigating his concerns. I would be happy to be kept informed, and if he is not happy with the outcome of that investigation, he should certainly come back to me. This Government are committed to supporting community pharmacies after a decade of underfunding and neglect. We recently agreed a record uplift to £3.1 billion for 2025-26.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
The Secretary of State may well be aware of the greater awareness among young people of nicotine pouches. That seems to be a gap in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill currently going through Parliament. Will he commit to look at this issue to ensure that it is covered and that we bar this alongside other forms of tobacco and nicotine?
Wes Streeting
As the hon. Gentleman knows through bitter experience, that rotten industry always finds a way, and we have to keep on top of it and tackle the scourge of nicotine addiction. He knows about this issue better than most, he having campaigned so assiduously on it, and he is right to raise it, so let us look at what we can do to strengthen the Bill, if we can, as it goes through Parliament.
Peter Lamb (Crawley) (Lab)
Karin Smyth
Such contraceptives are an emerging technology that will be subject to clinical and other relevant assessment before being considered for use in England. The Government remain committed to ensuring that women can access their preferred method in a timely manner. A range of contraception is available free of charge from a range of settings. That includes a copper coil, which is a non-hormonal, non-steroidal contraceptive device.
Sarah Bool (South Northamptonshire) (Con)
In Prime Minister’s questions last week, I raised the need for a universal national screening programme for type 1 diabetes. Will the Secretary of State agree to meet me to discuss this, so that it could form part of the 10-year plan, given that it fits so neatly into prevention of issues such as diabetic ketoacidosis over treatment?
Wes Streeting
I was in the Chamber to hear the hon. Member’s question. Obviously we are led by clinical advice when it comes to decisions on screening programmes, but I understand the case she makes. I would be delighted to ensure that she gets a meeting with the relevant Minister.
Mr Richard Quigley (Isle of Wight West) (Lab)
Stephen Kinnock
We have provided hospices in England with a record £100 million in capital funding, as my hon. Friend will know. ICBs are responsible for commissioning palliative and end-of-life care services, including hospices, to meet the needs of their local populations. NHS England has published statutory guidance to support that. I would of course be more than happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that further.
Adrian Ramsay (Waveney Valley) (Green)
The British Dental Association recently published analysis showing that the proportion of NHS funding spent on dentistry more than halved under the Conservatives, who failed to account for inflation and demand to the cost of £1 billion. It is no wonder that we have dental deserts across much of the country. Will the Secretary of State ensure that dentistry receives its fair share of funding from the new NHS funding allocated in the spending review?
Stephen Kinnock
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to point to the neglect and incompetence of the past 14 years. We are fighting to get NHS dentistry back to where it needs to be. An important first step, of course, is the 700,000 additional urgent appointments and supervised tooth-brushing programme, but long-term contract reform is what is needed, alongside the investment that will come through the spending review.
Ben Coleman (Chelsea and Fulham) (Lab)
According to the Trussell Trust, the impact of hunger and hardship on people’s health is driving an extra £6.3 billion in Government healthcare spending. What part is the Department playing in reducing hunger and hardship—and thus the related healthcare cost—in my constituency and across the country?
Stephen Kinnock
My hon. Friend is right to raise that important point. It is truly shameful that 4.5 million children in the UK now live in poverty. We are developing an ambitious strategy that tackles root causes, and we are already taking action. Alongside cross-Government work on free school meals, breakfast clubs and funded childcare, the Department is investing £56 million in Start for Life services and supporting healthy diets for 358,000 people through Healthy Start.
Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)
Opticians are important medical professionals for our community. Unfortunately, when I spoke to the Hertfordshire and West Essex integrated care board, I was told that it will not allow opticians to perform vital services such as treating minor eye injuries, as doing so is deemed too expensive, despite that being the norm in the areas surrounding my constituency. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can ensure a fair system across the country, rather than a postcode lottery?
Stephen Kinnock
The hon. Gentleman is right to point to the anomalies in the eyecare system. There are concerns about the role that some aspects of the independent sector are playing, particularly in the light of the lucrative nature of cataract operations. If he writes to me, I will be happy to set out the issues, and I guarantee that he will get the response in due course.
Alice Macdonald (Norwich North) (Lab/Co-op)
Infertility is a medical condition that affects one in six couples in the UK, but access to NHS treatment is a postcode lottery, with less than 10% of ICBs in England offering the recommended three cycles of IVF. Does the Minister agree that we need to end that postcode lottery, and will she meet me and campaigners such as Fertility Action to discuss how we can end it for good?
Karin Smyth
In the light of the broader pressures and changes in the NHS, we have been considering the ambitions on fertility services and fairness for all couples. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is reviewing its fertility guidelines, which will be the clinical standard for the future. I know that my hon. Friend will ensure that she and the group she talks about keep an eye on that, and that she will work with them. I am happy to keep working with her on how we best support ICBs to improve their local offer.
Mr Joshua Reynolds (Maidenhead) (LD)
I have raised with Ministers before my concerns about the closure of St Mark’s walk-in urgent care centre in Maidenhead. Frimley ICB has confirmed yet again that it will not reopen the centre, against the will of the majority of Maidenhead residents. Will the Secretary of State meet me and local campaigners to see how we can finally get St Mark’s walk-in centre back open after five years of closure?
Wes Streeting
I know that the hon. Gentleman’s constituents will have noted, through his representations as a constituency MP, that he could not have fought harder to save that service. We devolve these sorts of decisions to ICBs, in order that they make decisions closer to the communities that they serve, with the conviction that those sorts of decisions are better taken locally than centralised in Whitehall. I understand the case that he makes, but having given ICBs a challenge, resources and freedom, we Ministers must resist the temptation to meddle every time they make decisions that they believe are right for the community, even if those decisions are controversial.
Will Stone (Swindon North) (Lab)
Will the Minister look into minimising the pain of patients going through hysteroscopy and biopsy procedures by requesting that medical professionals fully brief them on anaesthetics and pain relief in advance of procedures to ensure that they can plan accordingly?
Karin Smyth
My hon. Friend raises an important question. We are committed to improving women’s experience of gynaecological procedures, including hysteroscopies. Women should be provided with information prior to their procedure so that they can make an informed decision about the procedure and pain relief options, including local or general anaesthetic. He will probably make further representations, which we will certainly look at.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
One of the ways in which the Secretary of State has reduced the waiting list is by turbocharging the use of the private sector since January, meaning that half a million people have been treated in irreducible spare capacity. Has that experience elicited any learnings that the Secretary of State is able to take into the wider reform agenda for the NHS?
Wes Streeting
Absolutely: the NHS always does better under a Labour Government.
Nesil Caliskan (Barking) (Lab)
Barking community hospital in my constituency has been providing antenatal services to mothers in Barking for many years, and women also use its services to give birth. I was therefore really disappointed when I heard last week that the maternity birthing unit is likely to close. Many in my community are deeply concerned. They are being redirected to Newham hospital, which the Care Quality Commission has rated as “requires improvement”. Women deserve to give birth in a safe clinical environment. Will Ministers ensure that additional attention and resources are provided to Newham hospital, so that it improves its standards and my constituents who are being redirected to give birth there can do so in a safe clinical space?
Wes Streeting
Making sure that women are giving birth safely is the ultimate priority and the least that women deserve. I understand my hon. Friend’s anxiety about this reconfiguration, and she is right to raise that with the ICB in the first instance. We are happy to meet her as Ministers, too. The crucial thing is that the services are configured and delivered in a way that prioritises the safety of women and their babies.
James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)
In March, the Minister for Care told me that no decision could be taken on a new dental school at the University of East Anglia until the spending review settlement was known. Now that we know it, will he instruct the Office for Students to allocate new training places at the UEA from 2026?
Stephen Kinnock
The spending review has just been published. The key now is to secure the allocations within the overall financial envelope. That will take a matter of weeks, and I will be happy to report back to the hon. Member once we have that clarity.
Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)
Between 2001 and 2011, the 15% health inequalities weighting in NHS allocations made a positive, measurable difference to the health of deprived people. Unfortunately, it was cut to 10% in 2015. With the spending review’s increase in funding to the NHS, when will the health inequalities weighting reach 15%?
Wes Streeting
I am really grateful to my hon. Friend for her question. She is right to highlight the importance of funding following inequalities to redress that imbalance. I think she will be pleased with where we are with the 10-year plan for health, and I would be delighted to meet her to discuss it.
Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)
People in East Devon have been told that they must now travel to Exeter for audiology services that they previously received at their local community hospital. What steps are the Government taking to encourage new providers to restore accessible audiology services?
Wes Streeting
That has been a running theme this morning, which will not be lost on Ministers. We will ensure, as we deliver neighbourhood health services, that people can receive care closer to home, wherever they live. We have heard that message loud and clear today, and I think the hon. Member will see that priority reflected in our 10-year plan for health.
Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)
I declare an interest, as my brother is a GP. When my residents are able to get a GP appointment, they are frustrated when they are sent halfway across the borough to a different surgery from the one they are registered with by their primary care network. Can we address that, and is it part of our proposals in the new GP contract?
Wes Streeting
We do want to put GPs at the heart of neighbourhood health services, and we want people to have care close to home. There are benefits to primary care working at scale, so I would not want to criticise them for doing that. The important thing is different courses for different horses. Some of us are much more mobile, more active and more online and would welcome that flexibility. For others, continuity of care that is close to home, or indeed in their home, is important. It is important that people get the right care, in the right place, at the right time, wherever they live, and that is what we will deliver.
Sir Jeremy Wright (Kenilworth and Southam) (Con)
I am grateful for the consideration the Secretary of State has already given to finding a fairer and more effective way of compensating those injured by a covid vaccination, but he knows that those who are profoundly affected by such injuries are anxious for news. Can he give me, and indeed them, a progress report?
Wes Streeting
I reassure the right hon. and learned Gentleman, the constituents of his I have met and other campaigners that I am having discussions with the Cabinet Office about how we deal with that and other issues that have been raised this morning, including the sodium valproate scandal. He knows the complexities involved, and I have been grateful for his advice as a former Attorney General. I do not have specific progress to report now, but I reassure him and campaigners that this issue has not gone off the boil and we are working to find a resolution.
Claire Hazelgrove (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Lab)
The challenge of finding and keeping an NHS dentist is raised with me time and again across the Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency, and I welcome the early action that this Labour Government have taken to introduce more than 19,000 urgent care appointments across our integrated care board area. What will be the next steps to help ensure that NHS dentistry is opened up again to everybody?
Stephen Kinnock
I thank my hon. Friend for that question and her relentless campaigning on this issue. She is right that the 700,000 urgent dental appointments are a first step, and we are looking to embed that so that it goes forward every year of this Parliament. The broader issue is around contract reform. There is no perfect contract system—the current one clearly is not working—and we are looking at options around sessional payments, capitation, and getting a contract that works and brings dentists back into the NHS.
Blake Stephenson (Mid Bedfordshire) (Con)
The Secretary of State will know that my local ICB in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes is set to merge with Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The new ICB will cover a population of about 3 million people. Given the difficulties we have had securing a GP surgery in Wixams, will the Secretary of State set out how supersizing that quango will help rural mid-Beds to get the local healthcare it needs?
Wes Streeting
May I respectfully say that that was part of the problem with Conservative thinking? They thought that the answer to the NHS crisis was more quangos, and they measured success in the number of ICBs, not the number of appointments and the size of the waiting list. We are taking a different approach, slashing bureaucracy and reinvesting in the front line. We are not centralising but decentralising, and cutting waiting lists—a record that the Conservative party cannot begin to touch.
Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Lab)
A couple of weeks ago at my constituency surgery, though tears my constituent Amy explained how, following a hip operation in 2008, she suffered progressive nerve damage due to repeated failures in diagnosis, referral and treatment. Despite raising concerns for years, she was told that her pain was common. A nerve test in 2015 confirmed damage, and further tests last year showed a significant deterioration. After 17 years she has only now been offered surgery. All Amy wants to know is what steps are being taken to ensure that no other patient is left permanently disabled due to such prolonged and systemic failure—
Mr Speaker
Order. That is very important, but why does the hon. Member not want others to get in?
Wes Streeting
First, on behalf of the NHS I apologise to my hon. Friend’s constituent. That is an intolerable situation, but sadly not rare or exceptional. There is too much of that happening, and a culture of cover-up and covering reputations, rather than being honest with patients about failures. We are changing the culture. Safety is at the heart of the 10-year plan, and I would be delighted to talk to my hon. Friend further about his constituent’s case.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
This morning I attended an event about bladder cancer. Bladder cancer is the fifth highest killer in the United Kingdom, and people were anxious to meet the Minister and discuss those matters. Will he agree to meet bladder cancer organisations to take forward their four objectives to make things better for people in the United Kingdom?
Wes Streeting
I am sure my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton), who is the Minister responsible for cancer, would be delighted to meet campaigners, particularly as we put together the national cancer plan. We want to ensure that we capture every type of cancer, and genuinely improve cancer care for everyone in our country.
Oliver Ryan (Burnley) (Ind)
The Minister may have seen my constituent Mollie Mulheron recently featured on “Newsnight”. Our local ICB recently refused her access to fertility treatment after recovery from an aggressive cancer with a high likelihood that her illness will return. Will the Minister meet me and Mollie to discuss that issue, and access to fertility treatment for cancer survivors and patients?
Wes Streeting
Yes, I will make sure that my hon. Friend gets that meeting.