Access to Primary Healthcare
Debate between Caroline Johnson and Ellie Chowns(2 months, 1 week ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Dr Johnson
Essentially, because there is more clinical acute need in primary care hospitals. Given the choice, with one amount of money, between saving a life and preventing a problem for later, it is inevitable that money gets shifted towards acute care. That is where the pressure is, but I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we need to work harder to prevent people from becoming ill in the first place.
Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)
On that point, will the shadow Minister give way?
Dr Johnson
No, I will not give way again, because I know that you will give me eyes if I do, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Labour has spent 14 years in opposition. The Secretary of State has had plenty of time to consider what he would do if he gained office, so, further to the intervention of the hon. Member for Chelsea and Fulham (Ben Coleman), what have the Government achieved in 14 weeks to help the health of the nation? I will tell you, Madam Deputy Speaker. They have opened the Department’s doors to their Labour mates. They have awarded an inflation-busting pay rise to junior doctors without negotiating any modernisation or productivity reform in return. They have overseen GPs entering industrial action and nurses rejecting their pay offer. They have scrapped the social care costs cap. They have produced a report of selected statistics with no policy recommendations. They have broken their manifesto pledge to deliver the new hospital programme. They have taken the winter fuel payment from millions of vulnerable pensioners. They have even stopped the children’s cancer taskforce.
That dire record, underlined by the Labour legacy in Wales, fills me with huge trepidation for the future of the NHS. I hope that when the Government’s plan eventually comes, it is a good one, for all our sakes.