Commons Chamber

Monday 15th December 2025

(began 2 hours, 5 minutes ago)

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None Portrait Q1. What steps he is taking through defence spending to help increase economic growth. (906891)
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None Portrait Q4. What steps his Department is taking to increase the speed of the development and adoption of uncrewed defence systems. (906894)
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Question number four, please, Mr. Speaker.
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None Portrait Q5. What steps he is taking to improve support for female veterans. (906895)
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Amanda Martin five Mr Speaker.
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None Portrait Q7. What steps he is taking to ensure that veterans receive adequate support after leaving the armed forces. (906897)
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Liz Jarvis seven Mr Speaker you.
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Wes Streeting Portrait Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ilford North, Labour)
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Speaker, to ask the Secretary of State if he'll make a statement to State if he'll make a statement to the House on winter preparedness in the NHS. >> Secretary of State.

**** Possible New Speaker ****

Secretary of State. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The NHS national medical director says, and I quote, this unprecedented wave of I quote, this unprecedented wave of super flu is leaving the NHS facing a worst case scenario. This is backed up by the data. On any given day last week, an average of 2500 patients were in hospital beds, a 55% increase on the week before and almost double the numbers from 2023. 106 flu patients are in intensive care, compared to 69 the previous week.

There are 1300 more staff than the week before, and the number of calls received by NHS 111 last week was 446,000, 8% higher than this time last year. It is clear from both the NHS and Ukhsa data that there is a real risk for the NHS and for patients, and it is at this moment of maximum danger that the BMA has chosen to go ahead with Christmas strikes, when it will inflict the greatest level of damage on the NHS. The BMA said this dispute was about pay, but we gave them a 28.9% pay rise.

Then they said it was also about jobs, so I offered a deal to halve the competition for jobs to less than two applicants per post. It is now clear what these strikes are really about. The BMA's fantasy demand for another 26% pay rise, on top of the 28.9% they have already received. I also offered to extend the BMA strike mandate so they could postpone this action and go ahead once flu has subsided. The fact they also rejected that offer shows a shocking disregard for patient safety.

Since this strike represents a different magnitude of risk to previous industrial action, I am appealing to ordinary resident doctors to ignore the BMA strike and go to work this week, abandoning patients in their hour of greatest need goes against everything a career in medicine is meant to be about. The entire focus of my department and the NHS team is now on getting the health service through the double whammy of flu and strikes. We've already vaccinated 17 million people, 170,000 more than last year, and 60,000 more NHS staff.

We've invested in 500 new ambulances, 40 new same day emergency care and urgent treatment centres and 15 mental health crisis assessment centres. The NHS will also be recalling resident doctors to work in emergency situations, and we will not tolerate the dangerous attempts to block these requests that we've seen from the BMA in the past. I'm proud of the way the NHS team has pulled together through strike action in the past, and I know they will move heaven and earth to keep patients as safe as they can this winter.

I'm just appalled that they are having to do so without the support of their colleagues in the BMA.
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Stuart Andrew Portrait Rt Hon Stuart Andrew MP (Daventry, Conservative)
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Stuart Andrew thank you, Mr. Speaker. This winter, a serious flu Speaker. This winter, a serious flu wave and rising RSV infections are pushing the NHS to its limits. Flu admissions, as we heard, are up 55% in a week. RSV cases are rising, especially in older people. But the government failed to prepare, as we pointed out earlier in the year. In July, the health secretary accepted Jcvi advice to expand the RSV vaccine to over 80s. That expansion seems to have been quietly dropped.

Flu vaccine uptake remains dangerously low, with fewer than 30% of some key groups vaccinated. Most worryingly, this does include NHS staff who are going off sick because of flu, adding to staffing pressures. Delayed discharges are worsening 19,000 beds. More bed days have been lost this year. Still, there is no winter discharge plan, no new funding and no clarity. And today, yes, resident doctors confirmed further strike action next week. That will add pressure to a system already under significant strain.

And that is why we would ban strike action. But at the same time, this government is literally making it easier for unions through their Employment Rights Bill when the NHS is under this level of pressure. Families deserve the reassurance that care will be there when they need it. So I ask the Secretary of State will he now publish the government's plan for managing winter pressures, including delayed discharges and emergency care? And given he is worried about a double whammy of rising flu cases in a strike, what extra resources is he providing? And if he isn't, where is the money coming from? What action will he take to ensure RSV vaccine access for older people? And what will he do to raise flu vaccine uptake in vulnerable groups, and in particular in NHS staff? Mr.

speaker, families are frightened. Some are already grieving. This crisis was not inevitable, but the government's failure to prepare has made it much worse.
15:53
Wes Streeting Portrait Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ilford North, Labour)
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So mistake. >> So mistake. >> Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will ignore the political nonsense about banning strikes and clamping down on trade unions. I will, however, take on directly the charge that we haven't prepared for this winter. We've delivered over 17 million flu vaccinations this session. Hundreds of thousands more than this time last year, and 60,000 more NHS staff than last year are also getting their jab. We are on track to deliver the five percentage point increase in flu vaccine uptake in healthcare workers, as set out in our urgent and emergency care plan on children and young people.

Half a million 2 to 3 year olds have been vaccinated. Same as last year, 3.6 million school aged children have been vaccinated, up 100,000 on last year. And we'll be going back to schools to do repeat visits in those areas where uptake within schools has not been as high as we would like for, for care home residents and flu vaccination uptake is 71%. We're on track to meet the RSV uptake target for 2526. In the published Urgent and Emergency Care plan.

So we are doing a lot on the vaccination front to prepare. In fact, on winter planning more generally, we started earlier and did more than ever to prepare for this winter. We had stress tested winter plans, trust by trust. Local NHS leaders ran scenario based exercises, including managing surges in demand and responding to virus outbreaks, to test and strengthen their winter readiness plans, which are now being put into action with strengthened access by boosting GP access to keep people well and out of hospital through advertising campaigns, new online access routes and more.

GP practices open for longer hours over the Christmas period. We're making sure more people can be seen close to home, which matters because when people can get help early from their GP, they're less likely to end up in A&E. And of course, we're going further to improve our urgent and emergency care performance this winter. That's set out in our urgent and emergency care plan. We're investing almost £450 million into USC this winter, meaning 500 new ambulances on the roads expanding same day, and urgent treatment centres providing targeted support to the most challenged trusts, creating capacity and keeping flow moving by sharing weekly data with trusts.

Encouraging the use of alternative community services. Streamlining in-hospital discharge processes to get patients discharged more quickly from hospital when safe to do so, including joining up the NHS and social care, where relationships between health and social care have been improving year on year. And if I think about where we are this year compared to last year, there has been sustained improvement. So a lot done. More to do, of course. Our job is made harder by strike action. That's why this government is doing everything we possibly can to get the NHS through this winter.

I just wish we were doing it with the BMA rather than against the BMA.
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