Prostate Cancer Screening

Alex Ballinger Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I will begin with testimony from two constituents. Angela Duffill lost her dad to prostate cancer in 2019. She speaks warmly of the 20 years of NHS care he received at Russells Hall hospital, but she also writes of the time before his diagnosis, when he was sitting on his symptoms and suffering in silence, not knowing what was wrong and not going to the doctor to find out. The familiar mix of embarrassment, stoicism and a public-spirited reluctance to waste NHS time is all too common among men of his age. Angela wonders whether a comprehensive, better publicised screening programme would have encouraged her dad to seek help sooner.

Another constituent, Mervyn Jackson, wrote to me with his story. As prostate cancer ran in his family, he was encouraged to have regular tests. In 2021, those tests detected the cancer while he was still at an early stage. Mervyn said:

“The worrying thing is that I had no symptoms at all from the cancer.”

At the time of diagnosis, he felt completely well. There was nothing to tell him that he needed treatment, and nothing to prompt him to get tested, which he would not have done had it not been recommended based on his congenital risk. Following a successful round of radiotherapy, Mervyn is now 78 and in good health, living a full and active life.

When we discuss early diagnosis, that is the possibility we are talking about—finding cancer while there is still time to treat it, potentially giving someone decades more of life. I welcome the Government’s decision to introduce targeted screening for men with the BRCA2 gene and a relevant family history of cancer, but many families will still be left asking where current policies leave them. I hope the Minister will recognise the urgency behind these concerns, and the need to keep wider screening under review and give families clear guidance while that work continues.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Ballinger Excerpts

Tuesday 24th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I see the Chancellor most weeks. That is why record investment is going into our NHS, which is improving patient satisfaction with access to general practice, cutting waiting lists, and improving ambulance response times—all to fix the mess that the Conservatives left behind. And people should be in no doubt: given the chance, they would do it again. They opposed the investment, they opposed the reform, and they can never be trusted with our NHS.

[Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) (Lab)]

T3. I welcome the changes set out in the gambling White Paper about the responsibilities of the Department in relation to the treatment and prevention of gambling harms. As part of the new responsibilities, will the Secretary of State commit to undertake a review of the impact of gambling advertising, marketing and sponsorship on public health, including on the health and wellbeing of children and young people?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton)]

We acknowledge the important issue of the potential negative impact that gambling advertising may have on children and young people’s health. My officials continue to work closely with officials at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and I will be discussing the issue with the Minister for Gambling, who is responsible for gambling advertising policy. We continue to keep the public health evidence under review, and to consider suitable action to protect individuals and communities from gambling harms.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Ballinger Excerpts

Tuesday 6th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

The hon. Member will be delighted to know that only last week I met with my counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to talk about how we can work together to improve health and care throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She will know that health is devolved, but thanks to the decisions taken by this Labour Government, the Scottish Government have just been delivered the biggest financial settlement since devolution began. That might mean that they finally make some progress on their waiting lists in Scotland, where one in six Scots are on a waiting list and the SNP is on its fifth NHS reform plan in four years.

[Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) (Lab)]

3. What steps his Department is taking to support GPs to spend more time with patients.

[The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)]

I am pleased to tell my hon. Friend that we have recruited over 1,500 additional GPs since October through an investment of £82 million, helping to fix the front door to the NHS. Today we have announced £100 million to unlock new capacity and more appointments in GP surgeries. We have also launched a red tape challenge and scrapped unnecessary targets in our new GP contract to cut down on bureaucracy and free up time to spend with patients.

[Alex Ballinger]

My constituents in Halesowen have written to me time and again complaining that they are calling their GP surgeries at 8 am, as instructed, but are still unable to get a same-day appointment. Can the Minister set out how the £100 million investment in GP surgeries, consulting rooms and other facilities will finally put an end to the frustrating 8 am scramble?

[Stephen Kinnock]

I absolutely share the frustrations of my hon. Friend and his constituents. The investment made today was in response to GPs telling us that they needed more space; the investment will lead to more capacity and better access and outcomes for his constituents. Today’s announcement was only possible thanks to the decisions made in the October Budget, which were opposed by every party opposite. The choice is clear: investment in our NHS with Labour, or cuts with the Tories and Reform.

National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare

Alex Ballinger Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Karin Smyth]

We understand the precarious situation that hospices are in—the precarious situation that they found themselves in before we came to power— and we are committed to talking to them and other affected providers. We will be going through the normal process of allocations in the next few months.

[Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) (Lab)]

Many of my constituents continue to wait on record-long waiting lists. Does the Minister agree that, before the Opposition throw stones, we should remind the House that their spending plans would have cut £15 billion from the NHS, which would have completely shattered an already broken NHS?

[Karin Smyth]

Those Conservative Members who have held on to their seats—I have been in that situation as well—know that the public, staff and patients understand exactly what state they left the NHS in. That is why they had such a disastrous election result. We are determined to change the NHS and to make it fit for the 21st century. Part of what we have done in this Budget through that extra allocation, our conversations with those in the health and social care system and our 10-year plan will do just that.