Oral Answers to Questions

Bradley Thomas Excerpts

Tuesday 24th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dr Ahmed]

Mental health support teams provide innovative early support for children and young people in schools and colleges, and I am pleased that these are working well in Bracknell Forest, too. Up to 900,000 additional pupils will have access to that support by the spring, and we are accelerating the roll-out to reach full national coverage by 2029.

[Bradley Thomas (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

Several weeks ago, I received a jaw-dropping email from a local Bromsgrove GP, who told me that a 10-month-old child nearly died after ambulance delays. Worse, the same day, another patient—a 66-year-old driving instructor—suffered a cardiac arrest during a driving lesson and died while being driven to the hospital by his wife. My constituents demand a better service and better response times. What are the Government going to do about this, and will the Secretary of State meet me and the concerned GP who wrote to me to address this issue?

[Wes Streeting]

Nothing is more sobering than hearing experiences of the life-and-death difference between the NHS being there for people when they need it and it not being there when they need it. People will be aware of a tragic case over the weekend involving a woman in her 90s in the Isle of Wight, which we are looking into. Ambulance response times are improving, but I do not pretend that they are good enough; we have done a lot, but there is a lot more to do, and the hon. Gentleman has painfully and powerfully underscored what happens when the NHS is not there for people when they need it. That is the NHS we inherited, and it is the NHS I am determined to change.