Osteoporosis

Anna Firth Excerpts

Thursday 26th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[Judith Cummins (Bradford South) (Lab)]

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise once again the importance of osteoporosis provisions and support. As many hon. Members know, I have campaigned on this issue for many years. Today’s debate is an important opportunity to highlight the deficiencies in support for a health condition that affects so many women and a large number of men in this country.

Historically, osteoporosis has been a condition shrouded in mystery. I have chaired the all-party parliamentary group on osteoporosis and bone health for some time now, along with Lord Black of Brentwood. Today’s debate coincides with our very first national media campaign on osteoporosis, co-ordinated by the APPG and the Royal Osteoporosis Society—the Better Bones campaign. I encourage all hon. Members to give their support to this important campaign.

Support for the Better Bones campaign has been staggering. It shows the public, professional and political demand for change, because nearly 250 parliamentarians, 44 charities, seven royal medical colleges, business leaders and trade unions are collectively calling on the Government to end the postcode lottery on access to crucial osteoporosis services in this country.

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

The hon. Lady is making a critical speech on osteoporosis treatment and support, and on absolutely the right day as well, when her campaign goes national. Is she aware that one in three people over the age of 50 who break a hip die of that injury or related complications within a year? That is a terrifying statistic. A large proportion of those fractures are osteoporotic, so does she agree that prevention and screening are key? There is groundbreaking work going on in Southend. The fracture clinic at Southend Hospital, which I had the pleasure of visiting a couple of weeks ago, is to launch a new fracture liaison service next spring, with the support of Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board. It will be the first FLS screening service in the UK to offer consistent screening support across a whole region.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Roger Gale)]

Order. If the hon. Lady wishes to make a speech, I think there may be time, but she is making an intervention.

--- Later in debate ---

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Bradford South (Judith Cummins) on securing this debate. She has made a brilliant speech on a critical topic. As she brilliantly points out, osteoporotic fractures can be prevented and screening is the first step. If we could stop these breaks in the first place, not only would we save lives but we would save the NHS money and enable all our residents and constituents to live longer, healthier lives.

As I said earlier, the statistics are truly terrifying. One in three people over the age of 50 who break a hip go on to die of that injury within a year. We are talking about saving lives. The hon. Lady rightly mentioned that FLS is the start of this. The first FLS to roll out a consistent screening and prevention process across an entire trust will launch at Southend Hospital next spring. It is estimated that the service will prevent 550 fractures in mid and south Essex, saving the trust approaching half a million pounds and, critically, 1,300 bed spaces each year. If that were rolled out across the entire country, we would be looking at preventing 74,000 osteoporotic fractures, saving three quarters of a million bed days and hundreds of millions of pounds, to which the hon. Lady rightly referred.

The hon. Lady is right that this is the future of the NHS—we should be aiming at prevention—and that stopping women, in particular, suffering these osteoporotic fractures has to be done by rolling out FLS across the whole country. I hope the Minister will agree that other regions should follow Southend’s example. It is an exemplar and I thank him and the hon. Lady for giving me this opportunity to speak.

Future of the NHS

Anna Firth Excerpts

Tuesday 24th October 2023 Westminster Hall

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. I congratulate the hon. Member for Wirral West (Margaret Greenwood) on securing this important debate. I want to put on record straightaway my thanks to all the hard-working hospital and ambulance staff at Southend Hospital, and to everybody working in the NHS across Southend and Leigh-on-Sea—they do a fantastic job.

I want to start with the question of money. I do not agree at all with the characterisation of this Government as one that does not invest in the NHS. This Government are putting record investment into our NHS. Using the latest figures for which we have comparable international data—I noticed that the hon. Lady was selective about the years she chose—public spending on healthcare in this country totalled £177 billion in 2018-19, the equivalent of 8% of GDP. That is more than both the OECD and EU14 averages. Healthcare spending has only gone up since then. We are now spending £182 billion, amounting to £3,409 for every man, woman and child in 2022. This is simply not a Government who are not investing in their NHS.

I think we would all accept that reform is always welcome. Any attempts to talk about reform are generally met by the Opposition with accusations of privatisation or of needing to spend yet more money. I cannot help but observe that the hon. Member for Wirral West does not disappoint: we have heard both those accusations this afternoon. Let me give a recent quote from a senior politician:

“The reason I want to reform the health service is…I want to preserve it. I think if we don’t reform the health service we will be in managed decline”.

I hope that the hon. Lady recognises those words, as they are the words of her own party leader.

This is what people get from a Conservative Government. It is a Conservative Government who have funded the NHS more and who promise reform, and that is the way we will get better outcomes for all our constituents. One thing I will say, though, is that that investment must make its way down to our individual hospitals and NHS services.

That brings me to my first point. My hon. Friend the Minister is well aware that £118 million of capital investment was promised to South Essex hospitals in 2017. The lion’s share—£52 million—of that was earmarked for Southend Hospital. The Minister is also aware that I have raised this issue—I have termed it the missing millions—in Parliament 10 times and with Ministers on numerous other occasions. It is utterly incredible that here we are, more than six years later, and that money has still not, finally, made its way down to my local trust.

[Daniel Kawczynski]

Is my hon. Friend aware that the state-run, socialist model of the NHS has meant that despite my local NHS trust in Shropshire securing more than £312 million for modernisation of A&E services seven years ago, construction has still not started in Shropshire? The socialists believe in state-controlled services, but they are the most inefficient imaginable.

[Anna Firth]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely valid point. It is how we get the investment through the state bureaucracy that is so important. I thank the Minister very much indeed for his support last year, when I secured an advance payment of £8 million, which is already going towards improvements at Southend’s emergency department in preparation for the winter. But I stress once again, using the famous words of Cuba Gooding Jr that I have already said in the main Chamber but have not yet said in this one: when, please, are the Government going to “show me the money”, because Southend Hospital and Southend residents deserve it?

I want to move on to the future of the NHS. The focus has to be on prevention and on community care. The old adage that prevention is better than cure is clearly the way forward, and I want to focus on some examples from Southend. I recently visited the fracture clinic at Southend Hospital, which is about to launch a new fracture liaison service next spring. That will be the first FLS in the UK to focus across one area: it will be a consistent service, providing consistent care, across Mid and South Essex. The figures show that, over five years, the FLS will help to prevent 550 fractures, save the trust £472,000 and also save 1,300 bed days every year. Every single pound that the NHS is investing in the FLS will save £3.26 for our NHS. Outstanding, groundbreaking, innovative services like that are the future of our NHS, and I will just remark again that it started in Southend West.

The second thing that I want to talk to the Minister about is community pharmacies, which already save 619,000 GP appointments every week; roughly 32 million appointments are saved per year. We must continue to move services out of secondary care and into the community, and community pharmacies are a perfect example. We have the brilliant Belfairs Pharmacy and French’s pharmacy in my constituency. Both are run by an inspirational pharmacist, Mr Mohamed Fayyaz Haji, known to us as Fizz. The Minister will be well aware of everything that community pharmacies can do, but Fizz provides cholesterol and blood pressure checks, health advice, prescribing, ear syringing, community phlebotomy, earlier diagnosis measures such as measuring prostate-specific antigen levels, electrocardiograms, and ultrasound screening for sports injuries and pregnant women. That is a model for community pharmacy around the country, which, again, has to be the future of our NHS.

The final point that I want to talk about is hospice care and care homes. In Southend West we have an average age that is 20% higher than England’s as a whole. The triple whammy of people living longer but not necessarily in good health, coupled with more and more people working full time, means that good quality nursing care and end-of-life treatment will increasingly become a necessity for all of us.

Hospices such as Havens Hospices in Southend perform an incredibly compassionate service for our community, which is incredibly good value. They could play a vital role in reducing pressure on the NHS. They are an exemplar, and the NHS should look at the hospice service and learn from it, just as it should look and learn from brilliant care homes such as Cavell Lodge, which is managed by Michael Daley.

Regrettably, awareness of the role and value of our hospices and care homes often does not come until the point that it is needed. Hospices in particular are funded primarily, as the Minister knows, through charitable giving. Havens Hospices need £124,000 each week to provide their services. Overall, UK hospices are budgeting for a deficit of £186 million per year. Hospices save the NHS money in the long term by reducing pressures on hospital beds, ensuring our hospice sector—I would also add our care sector—not only survives but thrives. It is a win-win for all us.

I do not believe that more money is the answer or has to be the future of the NHS. A focus on prevention, on more care in the community and on an integrated health service that takes full advantage of the learnings available in the charitable and sometimes private sector can provide solutions to reduce pressure on the frontline services. All of that is deliverable, but only a Conservative Government will deliver it.

Countess of Chester Hospital Inquiry

Anna Firth Excerpts

Monday 4th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

The Kark recommendations that were accepted, which cover events since those covered at Chester, are believed to have addressed the concerns about the revolving door, but given the issues that have come to light through the case in Chester, I have asked NHSE colleagues to revisit that decision without waiting for the inquiry to look at that. Of course, the inquiry will also look at what is the right balance of regulation for managers.

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

I wholeheartedly welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement that there will be a full, judge-led statutory inquiry into these horrifying, despicable crimes. It defies belief that senior NHS managers and leaders could have ignored the concerns of senior clinicians in the NHS for so long. I look forward to reassurance that this statutory inquiry will not hold back in holding those senior managers to account, to ensure that this does not happen in any hospital ever again.

I also welcome today’s update that the Essex NHS mental health inquiry has also moved to a statutory footing and that Baroness Lampard will chair that inquiry. Parents will be reassured to know that she is in the House listening to Members’ concerns.

[Steve Barclay]

I hope that my hon. Friend will note that the appointment of a Court of Appeal judge underscores the seriousness of the inquiry into the murders by Letby. The decision before the summer to place the Essex inquiry on a statutory footing again underscores our commitment to giving answers to those families in Essex, particularly where there are concerns that staff have hitherto not engaged with the inquiry in the way they need to do.

Oral Answers to Questions

Anna Firth Excerpts

Tuesday 11th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

We have a long-standing team in the Department focused on medical supplies, which are a continual issue; as a matter of routine business, there are often challenges in that area. If the hon. Gentleman has specific issues he wishes to raise, we would be happy to look at them, but we have a dedicated team in the Department that focuses on that exact point.

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

As my right hon. Friend knows, I have been campaigning for £118 million of capital funding, the majority of it for Southend University Hospital, ever since I was elected. I am grateful that he has recently confirmed that the funding is secure. A new business plan is being submitted, including £9 million of enabling funding. Will he look upon that favourably and swiftly?

[Steve Barclay]

As my hon. Friend knows, I have already met her to discuss this scheme, and the impediment was the business plan that came forward from the local trust—further work was being done on that. She is right to highlight our capital investment more widely. This Government have committed to investing in the biggest ever hospital building programme, with more than £20 billion. That is in addition to our long-term workforce plan—the first time the NHS has done this—in which we are making a further £2.4 billion of investment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Anna Firth Excerpts

Tuesday 6th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

I very much welcome it. I am delighted to hear that constructive approach to AI from the hon. Lady. The importance of AI is why we have been funding more than 80 AI lab schemes with more than £130 million. AI has huge potential to help patients. We are seeing that, for example, in stroke patients getting care much quicker. She is right that there are also some regulatory and other issues that we need to address, but we should not miss the opportunities of AI, and she is right to highlight them.

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

T9. Last week, not a single dentist across the city of Southend said that they were taking on new NHS patients, which is concerning for my constituents. Can my hon. Friend confirm again what steps he is taking to make sure that my constituents get the NHS dental treatment that they deserve?

[Neil O’Brien]

This is absolutely the top priority I am working on at the moment. I am totally seized of the challenge that my hon. Friend mentions. I have mentioned some of the reforms we are already making, which have increased dental activity by about a fifth in the year to March, but we know that we have to go further and we will do so shortly.

New Hospitals

Anna Firth Excerpts

Thursday 25th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

I have been before, as the hon. Gentleman knows, not least because I was an unsuccessful candidate in 1997, when he was elected to the House. I am very happy to ensure that a note comes with any further clarification—I will take that away and pick it up with the Department. I know that enabling works commenced in 2022. There have been extensive demolition works, which have continued into 2023. There is, as he is well aware, the key dependency for the Park House mental health project, which also needs to be factored in. The multi-storey car park is under construction, so that work is already under way. I hope that he can see the clarity that the statement will bring to the conversations that we can now have with trusts on enabling works and the next steps, but I am happy to get a more detailed note to him following the statement.

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

I know that my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) in particular, as well as you, Madam Deputy Speaker, as the Member for Epping Forest, and my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Julie Marson), have led a showcase, turbocharged campaign for a new Princess Alexandra Hospital for Harlow in Essex. Any services in Essex benefit the whole of Essex. I also thank the Secretary of State for the £8 million invested in Southend University Hospital for a new, reconfigured A&E; plans are progressing very well. Does this multimillion-pound investment not show that we have a Government who are committed to improving healthcare for everyone across our brilliant county?

[Steve Barclay]

I very much agree. My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the £8 million investment in Southend and the wider capital programme, not least the roll-out of diagnostic centres and new surgical hubs, which are all part of us tackling the pandemic backlog and of our commitment to investing in the NHS estate.

NHS Strikes

Anna Firth Excerpts

Monday 17th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

On social care, which relates to the hon. Lady’s point about discharge, she will recall that in the autumn statement the Chancellor put additional funding into adult social care—funding of up to £7.5 billion over two years, which is the largest ever increase in funding for social care. Also, I announced at the Dispatch Box in early January a reprioritisation of funding in the Department—it was a £250-million package—in the light of urgent and emergency care pressure. That included funding to support greater discharge, to get more flow. I touched on the workforce plan earlier. We will publish it shortly; in the autumn statement, the Chancellor committed to doing so.

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the BMA pay demands are over four times the average private sector pay increase and that, were the Government to agree to them, they would place a huge additional tax burden on hard-working taxpayers across the country—including in Southend West—at just the time when they are battling with an unprecedented cost of living crisis?

[Steve Barclay]

I do agree with my hon. Friend. If that demand were agreed to, it would mean some junior doctors receiving a pay rise of over £20,000. We need to find a balance, with a fair and reasonable settlement for NHS staff, recognising the huge pressure from the pandemic and the backlogs it has caused, while at the same time bringing inflation down, because that matters not just to NHS staff, but to all working people who are impacted by inflation.

Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan

Anna Firth Excerpts

Monday 30th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

I have addressed that point, in that we are bringing forward the third component of our three plans. I spoke earlier about the elective recovery plan; today’s announcement is on the urgent and emergency care recovery plan; and the third element will be the primary care recovery plan. Of course, alongside the work we are doing on dentistry it is also about access to services, both dentistry and A&E. That comes together in things such as the 111 service and how we review that, as well as the NHS app. It is about looking at how we better manage demand at the front door, and the demand for dentistry is not only through NHS dentistry but often manifests itself through a lot of patients coming forward for dentistry at A&E.

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s plan, particularly his focus on increasing capacity in urgent and emergency departments. I welcome the Government’s recent investment of £8 million to reconfigure the A&E at my local hospital in Southend. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this will increase not just the capacity but the quality of the urgent and emergency care on offer in Southend?

[Steve Barclay]

I commend my hon. Friend for her assiduous campaigning on behalf of her constituents in Southend, through which she played a key role in securing the extra £8 million of funding. She is right that that will make a material difference not only to flow and capacity within the hospital but through that to the overall standard of patient care.

Oral Answers to Questions

Anna Firth Excerpts

Tuesday 24th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

I agree that that is an important issue and I am keen to expedite it; we are having urgent discussions about how we maximise the use of physician associates. The hon. Lady raises an important point that we are discussing with the devolved Administrations, because it applies across the United Kingdom. I am keen to move quickly on that important area.

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

“The Future of Pharmacy” report was published yesterday and highlighted again the funding pressures on the sector, including for the brilliant Belfairs Pharmacy in Leigh-on-Sea, which asks whether the Minister will urgently consider writing off the £370 million of covid loans given to pharmacies during covid-19.

[Neil O’Brien]

We are working to increase the amount of funding going into pharmacies so that they can do more clinical services. I will look closely at the issue that my hon. Friend raises.

NHS: Long-term Strategy

Anna Firth Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

Time is short, so I want to put on the record straightaway my thanks to all the hard-working hospital and ambulance staff at Southend Hospital and everyone working in the NHS across the city of Southend and picturesque Leigh-on-Sea, because none of them is on strike and all of them are treating patients with huge care and dedication. They are also innovating at high speed to tackle the unprecedented demand on their services. Two modular ambulance units have already been installed at Southend Hospital, providing 12 extra beds; an enhanced discharge service pilot was started last year; an active discharge ward has been opened with 12 beds and 12 comfy chairs; and yesterday 12 major treatment spaces were added, with more to come. I know this because I am in regular contact with my hospital and the local NHS and I have been visiting the hospital and seeing and supporting what it is doing on a regular basis. It is very impressive and it deserves all of our praise and recognition.

That is not to say that my inbox is not also full of people’s problems with accessing the NHS, and of course there is more to do. However, we have to look at this in context. We have to look at the international context, because these challenges are not unique to the UK. Countries around the world are facing an unprecedented double whammy from the combined upswings of covid and flu leading to hospitalisations. France currently has 22,500 people in hospital with covid, and Italy has more than 8,000. When it comes to flu, cases in Italy have hit their highest level in 15 years. Even Sweden, always held up as a great exemplar for the NHS, has a huge burden on its healthcare systems due to respiratory viruses.

Obviously the UK is not immune to these twin pressures, and obviously we are facing much higher rates of hospital bed occupancy than is normal at this time of year. We have 8.6% of our beds occupied by covid patients. Four years ago, there were none. Last year there were only 50 people in hospital with flu. This year there are more than 5,000—a hundredfold increase. As I have said, in Southend we are seeing identical figures on a local level. However, to suggest that we are not committed to our NHS is frankly outrageous.

In addition to the billions of pounds—I will come on to funding in just a minute—we delivered 9 million flu shots and 7 million autumn boosters into people’s arms last year. This was to prepare for what we knew was coming. We are putting in an additional 7,000 beds, and £500 million into delayed discharge before Christmas and another £250 million now. Over the last 12 months we have recruited 4,700 new doctors and more than 10,500 new nurses. Of course there is more to do, but to suggest that nothing has been done—which is what one might think, sitting here and listening to Opposition Members—is plainly not true. We have heard the PM’s plan to tackle the backlogs and waiting lists. If they think that is not much of a plan, they should consider what the Nuffield Trust said last week about Labour’s plans. It said that they would

“cost a fortune and stem from a failure of understanding and an out-of-date view”.

Last week—[Interruption.]

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Roger Gale)]

Order. The hon. Lady is out of time.