Access to Primary Healthcare

Alice Macdonald Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alice Macdonald (Norwich North) (Lab/Co-op)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Tom Gordon) on his cultured and moving speech—and on delivering it without notes, which is always very impressive.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in today’s debate. I come from a family that is rich with GPs—primary caregivers who are the bedrock of our NHS. My grandad, aunt and uncle were all GPs, and my cousin is a qualified GP too. Over the generations they have served, times have got harder and pressures have grown. Under successive Conservative Governments, we saw decades of under-investment and mismanagement, and a lack of long-term planning, which has left primary care on its knees. Indeed, during the election campaign we had to fight to save our NHS walk-in centre, which has become important for so many people in my constituency —I am glad to say that we succeeded. However, as the Health Secretary said when he visited Lionwood medical practice in Norwich North, “The cavalry is coming”; in fact, it has arrived. We know that the task is monumental, but as the party that created the NHS, Labour knows how to fix it.

I welcome our 10-year plan, which has primary care at its heart. It will make sure that we shift from hospital to community, and from sickness to prevention. Because of the black hole in funding that we have been left by the Conservatives, we know that money is tight, but we have already taken action by investing £82 million to recruit 1,000 newly qualified GPs.

Of course, primary care refers to dentistry too. My county of Norfolk has been allowed to become a dental desert—or, as the Secretary of State has said,

“the Sahara of dental deserts”.—[Official Report, 23 July 2024; Vol. 752, c. 506.]

A recent ONS dentistry report states that 99.7% of new patients in East Anglia cannot access NHS dental care, which is shocking and totally unacceptable.

I note that many pregnant women are unable to access the free NHS dentistry care to which they are entitled. In fact, brand-new data from the British Dental Association and the Women’s Institute shows that nearly 1.5 million NHS dental appointments for pregnant women and new mums have been lost since the start of the covid pandemic. I ask the Minister to focus on what we can do to improve women’s access to dental care, because dentistry is a feminist issue too. I welcome our plans to rescue NHS dentistry, and I will continue pushing with colleagues across Norfolk—I can see the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone) in the Chamber—for the dental school that we so desperately need.

Let me finish with the Health Secretary’s own words: “The cavalry is coming.” We will fix the NHS and make sure it is fit for purpose.