NHS and Care Volunteer Responders Service
Debate between Anna Dixon and Karin Smyth(2 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Karin Smyth
I agree with the hon. Lady about the roles that people play, particularly by having conversations and connecting with people who feel disconnected. To be very clear, this decision is about particular arrangements: it does not mean that things are stopping across our country or with local health systems ensuring that volunteers are still available. We want to ensure that we use that knowledge in building systems for the future. I was very pleased to host a roundtable with organisations as part of our 10-year plan process. There are some fantastic ideas and opportunities out there to use the knowledge we have learned, particularly during covid, to use technology to link with people and to recognise where people are not linked by technology and ensure that they remain connected. All of that will form part of our future plans.
Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)
Before I ask my question, I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am an unpaid trustee of Helpforce, a charity that supports volunteering in health and care and works with more than 100 NHS partners to embed volunteering in trusts.
As we have heard, volunteers make a huge contribution every day across the country, giving their time and skills to free up doctors and nurses to focus on their clinical tasks. Helpforce runs a scheme called Volunteer to Career, which enables people to try out through volunteering before making the transition into a frontline healthcare career. Does the Minister agree that schemes such as Helpforce’s Volunteer to Career programme could play a huge role in filling some of the vacancies in NHS roles and that volunteers will play a central role in delivering the 10-year NHS plan?
Karin Smyth
I thank my hon. Friend for her work, expertise and knowledge. She is absolutely right—she almost pre-empted my answer—that embedding knowledge where it is needed in the frontline in our communities is exactly what we need to look to do, and we need to recognise where we can use volunteers well. We have micro-volunteering these days, which can help people to link in where it suits them, so that we can take advantage of people—I do not mean “take advantage”; that sounds bad. We can utilise people’s opportunities—perhaps they are working different or irregular shifts—so that they can give more, because we know that there is a great appetite out there to support the system more.
National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare
Debate between Anna Dixon and Karin Smyth(6 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Karin Smyth
I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that his hospice, and the hospices in many of our constituencies, do great work. We are aware of the precarious situation that they have been in for a number of years, and we want to ensure that they are fully part of end of life care. He will know from his time in the Treasury that there are complicated processes, both in the Treasury and in the Department of Health and Social Care. When I talk about the normal processes for allocating money, I think he understands that well. We are mindful of hospices’ concerns, and we will continue to talk with them.
Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)
Between 2013 and 2023, during the Conservatives’ time in government, the number of general practices fell from 8,044 to 6,419. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is a bit rich for the Conservatives to pretend now that they care so much about general practice, given that 1,600 practices closed on their watch?
Karin Smyth
My hon. Friend brings a great deal of expertise to the House from her work in social care, so she knows and understands the precarious nature of the sector, which we cannot stress enough. I do not know whether the Conservatives have actually read the report by Lord Darzi, but that report and its appendices give a really clear idea and diagnosis of the state in which the NHS and social care system was left. It will take a long time to rebuild it, and the sustainability of general practice and primary care is particularly problematic. That is why we took those actions in the summer, and why we will continue to support them and build up a neighbourhood health service.