Oral Answers to Questions

Dan Tomlinson Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd July 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Andrew Gwynne)]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that question. He knows that I met his constituents when I was a shadow public health Minister, and I can confirm that I am more than happy to meet him and his constituents now that I have dropped the “shadow”.

[Dan Tomlinson (Chipping Barnet) (Lab)]

T8. I am sure the whole House will want to celebrate the fact that the NHS is safe in Labour hands once again. Specifically in the Royal Free trust area, which covers the community that I now have the honour of being the MP for—Chipping Barnet in North London—there are 100,000 people on the NHS waiting list, so what steps will the Minister take to reduce the waiting list in places such as mine so that we can see more people getting the treatment and support that they need from the NHS?

[Wes Streeting]

I am delighted to welcome my hon. Friend to his place. I am personally grateful to the Royal Free hospital for saving my life when I went through kidney cancer. NHS waiting lists stand at 7.6 million, which was still rising as this Government took office. Our 40,000 extra appointments, scans and procedures and our doubling of the number of diagnostic scanners will make a real difference to getting that backlog down to where it should be.