Future of Health and Care

Antony Higginbotham Excerpts

Thursday 11th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I very much hope to get the hon. Gentleman on side and supporting these reforms, not least because many of them were in not just the Conservative party manifesto, but the Labour party manifesto on which he stood. We have consulted extensively on the measures in this set of reforms over two years. I look forward to further work, consultation and discussions with parliamentarians on all sides before, during and no doubt after the passage of the Bill. It is an incredibly important piece of work. What I do not want to do is delay the improvements that people on the frontline have called for. The core measures of this Bill have been built on the asks of the NHS, working with local government, and I think we should get on and deliver that.

[Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) (Con)]

I give my overwhelming support to these proposals, particularly the drive for innovation and technology, which will improve not only access to care but care outcomes for patients. The Secretary of State will be aware that in Burnley General Hospital, we already have some advanced surgical robots that provide incredible care. Could I urge him to look, as part of these reforms, at how we can make sites such as Burnley Hospital regional centres of excellence in areas such as surgical robotics?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes. We care about technology in the NHS because we care about people and the improvements to people’s lives that it can generate. Surgical robots are just one example. I am very glad to hear that they are being used in such an innovative way in Burnley Hospital. I would love to come and see that for myself some time. This is exactly the sort of progress that the NHS should be making to free up the time of dedicated and highly skilled clinicians, and to enable the delivery of more high-quality surgery because of, for instance, the higher magnification that one can get in using a robot for surgery. That is just one example of the sort of thing that we can push further as a result of the measures in this White Paper.