Ockenden Report

Debate between Alicia Kearns and Sajid Javid

Wednesday 30th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I can assure my hon. Friend that there have already been a number of changes in the CQC’s approach, but I cannot give an assurance that it has changed enough, because this report has only just been published and it is important to me to follow through and ensure that, where relevant, the independent regulators are also making the changes set out in the report. To respond to an earlier question from the hon. Member for Enfield North (Feryal Clark), she was right to suggest that there should be an update from Ministers on progress following this report, and I will ensure that that happens. That picks up on this question about the CQC as well.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

This House is united in our heartache over the lives lost and the lives destroyed, and over the women who were silenced and told that birthing had happened for centuries so they should shut up, or that it should happen as though in some sort of movie. I am afraid that, as an MP, I have concluded that NHS bureaucracy has a systemic problem of sexism, and I ask the Secretary of State to keep an eye on this nationally. I remember, after 36 hours of labour, being rushed to the operating theatre and being denied a C-section, then being rushed back an hour later and having a C-section, but only because my husband had noticed that my son’s heart rate had plummeted to almost non-existent. We must also prevent the unforgivable and unscientific locking out of loved ones across all health services. It compromises care and it is still happening in hospitals around the country across different types of care.

[Sajid Javid]

I thank my hon. Friend for saying what she has said in the way that she did, and also for talking about her own experience. She is absolutely right to emphasise the point that the NHS is there to care for anyone regardless of their gender, but when it comes to women in particular, I hope she agrees that this is precisely why the Government are right to want to set out—as we will do shortly and for the first time ever—a detailed women’s health strategy.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Alicia Kearns and Sajid Javid

Thursday 13th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

As my right hon. Friend knows, despite my enormous respect for him, I voted against the introduction of covid passports before Christmas. I maintain my view that they are not effective. Will he please commit to dropping domestic certification at the earliest possible opportunity? Will he also make clear today from the Dispatch Box to NHS trusts up and down this country that he will not stand for the pandemic of arbitrary discrimination we are seeing against pregnant women and their partners, and parents who want to be with their children on paediatric wards but are being prevented by trusts in an illogical and unscientific manner from being with them to look after and advocate for them?

[Sajid Javid]

First, I agree with every word my hon. Friend says about pregnant women. That is a message that has been reinforced to every NHS trust. I thank her for how she has campaigned on this issue and brought it to light, because that is making a difference. On the issue she raised about domestic certification, I share her instinctive discomfort, and I assure her and the House that as far as I am concerned we will not be keeping domestic certification in place a moment longer than absolutely necessary.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Alicia Kearns and Sajid Javid

Wednesday 8th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

That is another important issue. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will welcome the fact that sick pay begins from day one and that there is a hardship fund to help with the most difficult situations.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will not wish to move too slowly, but I am struggling to understand how we have come to this decision a week before the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory reports on the omicron variant. One in five critically ill patients in ICU is an unvaccinated pregnant woman—not one fully vaccinated pregnant woman has ended up in ICU. What is he doing to ensure that we do not see a catastrophe over winter with the loss of young life and of mothers?

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend is right to point to the importance of vaccinating everyone, and especially to the risk to pregnant women. A huge amount of work has gone on in the last few months to reach out to even more pregnant women. A new campaign launched in the last few days and we have already seen a positive response to it. As she says, sadly, almost all the women who are pregnant and in hospital because of covid are unvaccinated.

To refer to the start of my hon. Friend’s question, I think she was suggesting that we wait a week. I hope that she can reflect that, based on the doubling time that we have now observed, that would make a substantial difference to infections, and can take into account the lag between infections and hospitalisation.