King’s Speech

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, as we enjoy day 4 of the debate on the King’s Speech, I will concentrate my remarks on health, although inevitably that is inextricably linked with housing. I am happy to endorse the remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, because what she says about osteoporosis is absolutely right; it needs tackling.

Looking for something positive to say as an opening, I welcome the commitment to a single patient record. Any objections on the grounds of data privacy must be overcome by the sheer common sense of the proposal. Qualms over data ownership are genuine. Palantir is a business with tentacles in strange places, and it is right that those should be explored and that we should find means of keeping them at bay. But my GP is in Westminster and has easy access to tests that are done in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, but the same cannot be said about tests done at Tommy’s—St Thomas’ Hospital—which is actually closer to the surgery, or indeed Guy’s. In an age of data being easily transported, the river really should not be an obstacle to efficient communications in the NHS.

The single patient record has huge potential benefits, but it is the major bright spot, as far as I am concerned, in the King’s Speech. The NHS must modernise, but does that really require yet another massive shake-up? In the long term, it may be the right thing to do, but at the moment it is really not what the NHS needs. It was the noble Lord, Lord Darzi, who asked us to

“just imagine if all the effort and resource that had been poured into dissolving and reconstituting management structures had been invested in improving the delivery of services”.

Those words were echoed by the new Health Secretary less than two years ago, but now Wes Streeting has given us one parting gift: another NHS upheaval. I believe it will cause confusion and discontent in an NHS that is already wrought with tension.

However, on the truly vital issue of social care, the King’s Speech was almost silent. As others have remarked, this is a terrible omission. The lack of a proper social care system is a massive problem for the NHS. It was July 2011 when Andrew Dilnot proposed an answer to what was even then seen as a desperately urgent problem. His report was knocked into the long grass and, whenever the issue rolls back, it is knocked back again. This time, the Government opted for the increasingly popular answer to any tricky problem and asked the multitalented noble Baroness, Lady Casey, to lose it in a forest of consultations. So I add my voice to those who are asking: what is the timetable for something to emerge from all these consultations? When will we at last see something positive happening on social care?

While the talking continues, NHS beds are being blocked by elderly people who do not need acute medical care but do need social care. Maybe they live in unsuitable accommodation or have no access to the continuing care they need. Some lack family able or willing to take on some caring responsibility, and some are petrified at the prospect of being consigned to what is known as a care home, not least because of the massive bills this can entail. Dilnot proposed a type of insurance scheme that would cap the amount that any individual would have to contribute. Today, with most care homes run by the private sector and the for-profit element dominating, when will people really decide that private equity, with its high leverage and desperate need for income, is not the place for care homes to be entrusted?

So people remain in their hospital beds while others queue up behind them. A year ago, a report of the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee highlighted the problem. It was costing at least £1.89 billion a year then, and the figure has gone up. We need something to happen now.