NHS and Social Care: Joint Working

Lord Bishop of Sheffield Excerpts

Thursday 26th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I very much welcome that report and am pleased that the Government have been responsive to identifying what we need to do. I never tire of saying that, to support the workforce in the way that my noble friend said, we are introducing a new fair pay agreement for adult social care and implementing the first universal career structure for adult social care. That will—and I know noble Lords are concerned about this—lift the status and attraction of work in social care. I believe that, alongside, for example, the apprenticeships that we are now making available and many other measures, we will get to a place where those in the workforce are doing the job we would like them to do and are being properly recognised on all counts for it.

[The Lord Bishop of Sheffield]

In the light of the 2023 Hewitt review into integrated care systems, how are the Government building greater awareness of adult social care in the NHS workforce in order to enable greater collaboration?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

Well, it is absolutely part of training, and the movement towards that integration of understanding across both sectors has been continuing for some while. The right reverend Prelate gives me the chance to say that we also have a digital platform that allows skills to be recognised across. The more we can do in that way, both technically and with people, the more success we will have in being integrated and building care around the person who requires it.

Doncaster Royal Infirmary

Lord Bishop of Sheffield Excerpts

Monday 12th May 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[The Lord Bishop of Sheffield]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the conditions at Doncaster Royal Infirmary on patient care.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, Doncaster Royal Infirmary has a backlog maintenance bill of approximately £114 million, and serious infrastructure issues are indeed presenting challenges to delivering high-quality patient care. Repairing and rebuilding our healthcare estate is vital in creating an NHS fit for the future. South Yorkshire ICB has been provisionally allocated more than £150 million in capital investment for 2025-26 to begin to tackle estate challenges, including the condition of DRI.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Lord Bishop of Sheffield]

I thank the Minister for her Answer. She may be aware that one recent estimate of the costs involved in bringing the infrastructure of DRI into good repair came to an eye-watering £478 million. In 2021, a water ingress into the electrical circuits in the maternity ward caused the evacuation of premature babies in incubators and women in labour. In 2023, the collapse of a significant portion of plaster work in a hospital corridor ceiling resulted in no human injury only by the providence of God. How does the Minister intend to monitor the conditions at DRI to ensure that any future deterioration does not put the safety of patients and staff at risk?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I am very aware of the unacceptable situation that the right reverend Prelate describes. I can confirm that, in terms of capital commitments, in 2025-26 the Government are backing NHS systems with over £4 billion in operational capital, £750 million of targeted estate-safety funding, which will be crucial to DRI, as well as £440 million to tackle crumbling RAAC. Why is this all so important? It is all about keeping staff, patients and their families safe, and it is also about providing the best possible care. I should say that the Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which DRI comes under, is discussing—indeed, it absolutely should be discussing—options with the ICB to steer the programme allocations towards DRI.