Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Hancock and Bim Afolami

Tuesday 29th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The agreement that the hon. Lady’s Government—the UK Government—reached with Vertex means that this drug will be available in Wales and Northern Ireland as well. It is true that Scotland chose to go it alone and as a result has not received such good value for money, but what really matters is that the drug is now available throughout the United Kingdom.

[Bim Afolami (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State pay tribute to campaigners in my constituency such as Matthew Dixon-Dyer, who campaigned very strongly and lobbied me very effectively? Will he also illuminate the House on how, in future, we can have smoother access to drugs such as Orkambi on the NHS?

[Matt Hancock]

My hon. Friend has campaigned long and hard and has talked to me an awful lot about how important it has been to obtain Orkambi and the other cystic fibrosis drugs that will save lives, and I pay tribute to his campaigning. As I have said, we now have a system that allows access to drugs for the NHS at some of the best value in the world, and that system is working. It is clearly getting the drugs that are needed into the NHS, and I think that we should all get behind it.

NHS Long-Term Plan: Implementation

Debate between Matt Hancock and Bim Afolami

Monday 1st July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Making sure that we have the right allocations for CCGs across the country that reflect the needs of the local population is a very important responsibility for NHS England—as the commissioner of those services—to make sure that the money follows need. After all, the principle of the NHS is that it is available to everybody according to need, not ability to pay.

[Bim Afolami (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

We all know that the Secretary of State is a great fan of technology and of improving the mental health of young people, and all people across the country. In my constituency, a man called Richard Lucas has set up a new online system called govox, which is a revolutionary, technologically enabled way of improving mental health among young people. Will the Secretary of State advise the House how innovative new technological solutions at a local level can best get into CCGs and the local NHS, so that we can improve mental health for everybody?

[Matt Hancock]

My hon. Friend has raised with me before the new technology developed by Mr Lucas. A new technology such as this can be picked up by all sorts of different parts of the NHS—by different CCGs or mental health trusts—which can then use it. One of the reasons that we have brought in NHSX, which opens today, is to make sure that there is a central place to which people with a good idea for how to improve the health of the nation by using technology can go to find a way into the NHS, so that great practice and good technology can be promulgated across the NHS as quickly as possible.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Matt Hancock and Bim Afolami

Tuesday 19th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

If the hon. Gentleman really cared about stopping no deal, he would vote for the deal. There is something else that is worth saying about this shadow Secretary of State. He is a reasonable man—he is a sensible man—and I like him. My politics are probably closer to his than his are to those of the leader of his party, so why does he not have the gumption to join his friends over there on the Back Benches in the Independent Group, instead of backing a hard-left proto-communist as leader of the Labour party?

[Bim Afolami (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

8. What steps the Government are taking to support charities and other organisations working on treating acquired brain injury.

NHS Long-term Plan

Debate between Matt Hancock and Bim Afolami

Monday 7th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

No; we are proposing to have more targeted support for those who need it, to ensure that we get support to the areas of nursing with the most acute shortages, such as community nursing and mental health services. That is where support is best targeted.

[Bim Afolami (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

My constituency is one of the 25 trailblazer areas that will have new mental health support teams working in and around schools. Will the Secretary of State give further details on what this plan will do to deliver improved mental health services on the ground, particularly for young people in schools?

[Matt Hancock]

Supporting children with mental ill health is an incredibly important part of the plan, from early intervention on anxiety and depression through to support for those with more serious mental health conditions. It means that there will be dedicated support that can link with schools’ mental health services and help signpost in what is often a complicated system. The Mental Health Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock, has already agreed to meet my hon. Friend to discuss this further. It is an important and welcome intervention.

Prevention of Ill Health: Government Vision

Debate between Matt Hancock and Bim Afolami

Monday 5th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Bim Afolami (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. Will he outline what his views are for community pharmacy as part of the strategy of prevention?

[Matt Hancock]

Community pharmacies have a hugely important role to play in keeping people out of hospital and in supporting GP surgeries by doing more. Here, it is the French model that I look to for inspiration, but we should look all across the world to improve our health service.