Summer Health and Resilience

Danny Chambers Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

I draw the hon. Member’s attention to the work we have set out, including the new planning processes for summer pressures. As part of the heat taskforce’s work, we are setting out the framework for local areas to do their resilience planning. Local NHS managers need to ensure that their systems are resilient to extreme heat, just as they do for winter pressures. Our NHS needs to be resilient at all times of year, and it is important that also happens in Leicester.

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

I welcome the Secretary of State to her place. I heard from many patients and staff that Winchester hospital was horrendously hot this summer, and I pay tribute to all the staff who are delivering care in those conditions. When we are looking at how we can address the repairs backlog and ensure that the entire NHS estate is fit for the hotter summers we are expecting, can we ensure that clinical staff and infection control experts are also consulted? For example, installing air conditioning is also a way of improving ventilation, air filtration and infection control, as well as reducing the antimicrobial resistance in hospital-acquired infections.

[Yvette Cooper]

I welcome the hon. Member’s point. The £1.5 billion that I announced today covers 950 projects across England, right across the NHS, to deal with some of the safety issues and to improve facilities. Each area needs to ensure that it has looked at issues around infection control and building repairs so that they are making best use of the funding they will get.