Oral Answers to Questions

Dan Tomlinson Excerpts

Tuesday 19th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We have been very slow to get to topicals, so let us see if we can speed it up. Dan Tomlinson will set a good example.

[Dan Tomlinson (Chipping Barnet) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

This weekend, we launched the first in-person consultation as part of change.nhs.uk, the biggest national conversation about the future of the NHS we have ever seen. We know that the Leader of the Opposition wants a conversation about whether the NHS is free at the point of use, and I can tell her, from that first conversation, that no one agreed with her.

[Dan Tomlinson]

Earlier this month, I visited Barnet hospital to see the way in which it is changing the emergency care department so that more patients can be seen more quickly, freeing up capacity in accident and emergency. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that trusts such as the Royal Free and others across the country get the support they need, through investment and reform, to improve patient care?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. The Royal Free hospital saved my life when I went through kidney cancer, so it holds a special place in my heart. Thanks to the Chancellor’s decision and the investment she put into the NHS at the Budget, and the reform my Department is delivering, we will deliver the change and improvement that his constituents and mine, and the rest of the country, deserve.