Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Obese-Jecty Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

May I just say how regrettable it is that a sensible shadow Minister is sent along to parrot the absurd lines of her leader?

[Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)]

4. If he will take steps to repair Hinchingbrooke hospital before buildings containing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete reach the end of their lifespan in 2030.

[The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)]

As I am sure the hon. Member knows, Hinchingbrooke hospital is in wave 1 of the new hospital programme, and his constituents can now look forward to a new hospital under this Labour Government. The hospital has received over £44 million to deliver RAAC mitigation safety works, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has commissioned a site-by-site survey of RAAC hospitals, which will ensure that individual development plans address the highest-risk elements as soon as possible.

[Ben Obese-Jecty]

Last July, Deborah Lee, the senior responsible officer for the Hinchingbrooke hospital redevelopment programme, stated that the deadline for the new hospital was 2030. In a written answer to me last year, the Minister confirmed that, even after the mitigation measures of failsafe steelwork, the lifespan of the remaining RAAC buildings would run only until approximately 2030. Can the Secretary of State confirm that the rebuild, and all waves of the new hospital programme, will not be delayed by the review of building safety regulations guidance announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in December? Will he assure my constituents that the RAAC buildings at Hinchingbrooke will be safe to use beyond 2030, and if so, will he publish the risk assessment that he has conducted to confirm that?

[Karin Smyth]

The hon. Gentleman has outlined the shocking state of some hospitals. I confirm again that we want a site-by-site report of those hospitals for exactly that purpose: to ensure that they are safe and to understand any critical issues before the schemes go forward. We expect that report in the summer.

New Hospital Programme Review

Ben Obese-Jecty Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)]

Hinchingbrooke hospital in Huntingdon is one of the RAAC hospitals for which funding has already been approved. That hospital will not be allocated grid space until quarter 1 of 2028, but it will need it by Q1 2027 in order to keep the build on track. Additionally, traffic around the hospital is frequently gridlocked. A vital new access road is part of the plans, but the land where it would go is owned by Cambridgeshire constabulary and National Highways, who are yet to give up the additional land they acquired via compulsory purchase order when constructing Views Common Road. Will the Health Secretary meet me in order to work through those blockers—given that they are all being caused by Government agencies—and meet Hinchingbrooke hospital’s 2030 delivery date, and can he confirm that the 2030 date is still the target?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for his representations. This Government are on the side of the builders, not the blockers. I can confirm to him that we are determined to start Hinchingbrooke in 2027-28. We work closely with the local project team, but we would be delighted to receive representations about his frustrations with the delivery of that project.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Obese-Jecty Excerpts

Tuesday 19th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. We are looking at provisional registration. As I also mentioned to his hon. Friend the Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew), we are very open to the idea of a dental training school at the University of East Anglia. We need to ensure that we push on the full spectrum of all these measures, because there is a crisis in NHS dentistry and we need to get on and fix it.

[Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)]

Toothless in Huntingdon in my constituency has written to me highlighting that 36% of patients under Cambridgeshire and Peterborough integrated care system no longer have an NHS dentist. It wants dental practices to provide access to those needing emergency treatment and a priority pathway for referrals from hospital departments such as cardiology and oncology. To that extent, what steps are being taken in Huntingdonshire to improve dental access across rural Cambridgeshire? How are the Government helping the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough integrated care system to address those issues?

[Stephen Kinnock]

Obviously the golden hello scheme for rural areas is very important. We are pushing forward on that, and I am pleased to say that hundreds have expressed interest in it and appointments are starting on that basis. The hon. Gentleman is right about training places. As I have already mentioned, we are very open to establishments and institutions coming forward with proposals for that. We are living in a country where the biggest cause of hospital admission for five to nine-year-olds is having their rotten teeth removed. That is a truly Dickensian state of affairs, and it needs to be fixed as a priority.