Autumn Budget 2024

Baroness Ramsey of Wall Heath Excerpts

Monday 11th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ramsey of Wall Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to take part in this Budget debate with so many distinguished speakers across the House.

I will address the topic of the NHS. I was so pleased—and, frankly, relieved—when the Chancellor announced more than £25 billion extra funding for the NHS in the Budget. After all, the last 14 years have been so very hard on the NHS, in stark contrast to the previous three Labour Governments, which provided unprecedented levels of investment. That enabled the increased numbers of doctors, nurses and other health professionals who delivered those since undreamed of maximum four-hour waits in A&E, cancer referrals in two weeks and being able to see a GP so promptly that I recall a patient on “Question Time” complaining that their appointment was offered too soon.

Everything was not perfect, of course. The importance of the social care system and its role in keeping patients from unnecessary hospital admissions and, vitally, in helping those clinically ready to leave to do so promptly, remains an as yet unachieved holy grail. However, those resources, and our health professionals delivering those services expertly and with great dedication in the vast majority of cases, are the reasons why patients were repeatedly hugely positive about GPs, hospital treatment and healthcare in general when surveyed during those years.

Sadly, that is not so much the case now. Years of underfunding since 2010, the pandemic, patient demographics increasing need, and social care on its knees have all contributed to huge strains on NHS services. A huge effort will be required to tackle this, and it will inevitably take time. However, the increased resource funding announced by the Chancellor last month—3.4% per year, compared with only 2.2% on average over the last 14 years—will provide a great start, as will the £10.9 billion of capital investment to support new ways of working in the NHS through better use of IT and improved premises. These increases will make a concrete difference to so many people’s lives, as NHS waiting times start to improve as a result of the 40,000 extra elective appointments a week funded by the Budget. Under the previous Labour Government, the NHS aimed to treat patients within 18 weeks of their referral; it will be such a positive step forward for the NHS to start making progress towards this once again.

The new capital funding will enable more than £2 billion to be invested in NHS technology and digital to run essential services and drive productivity improvements; free up staff time; ensure all trusts have electronic patient records; and enhance patient access through the NHS app. It will also provide vital capacity to be built for more than 30,000 additional procedures and over 1 million diagnostic tests, alongside additional beds to help reduce waiting times. Now that this Budget has provided the funding which demonstrates the Government’s unwavering commitment to supporting the NHS, it will be for doctors, nurses, other health professionals and administrators to use this opportunity to start to transform patient care. My experience of working with so many of them gives me the confidence that they will respond brilliantly, as they have so often before.

I have been privileged to be a non-exec board member of primary, community, secondary, tertiary, regional and national health organisations over 22 years, including as vice-chair of UCLH in London and then chair of Cambridge University Hospitals trust. As Lambeth PCT chair over the river, I was hugely impressed by the innovation, energy and community focus of the GPs I worked with both to improve patient access and to tackle complex social challenges. Over the years, I have had the honour of chairing innumerable consultant appointment panels, as well as those for senior nurses, and was always struck by the professionalism and expertise of those we appointed. I know each one of those doctors and nurses will have been looking and praying for a financial settlement that would allow them to start turning around the quality of patient care once more. Working in partnership right across the NHS, as well as beyond, through integrated care boards and partners in public health and local government—and with the managers too, who are often externally maligned but are important to the effective running of services—there is so much to be done, and the Government’s first Budget can only get the task under way. We should all welcome this vital first step and give our full support to those we rely on day in, day out to deliver the best possible health services and outcomes for their patients.