Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elaine Stewart and Wes Streeting

Tuesday 25th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Elaine Stewart (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

5. What steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people waiting for NHS treatment.

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

In England, for the first time in 15 years, waiting lists are falling. Through record investment and modernisation, we have cut backlogs by more than 230,000, and we smashed our target for additional appointments in our first year, delivering more than 5 million. There is a long way to go, but the NHS in England is on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, in Scotland the SNP cannot seem to get the car started.

[Elaine Stewart]

While the NHS is on the road to recovery in England thanks to the investment of this Labour Government, there are 61,000 patients in NHS Ayrshire and Arran on a waiting list for treatment, almost 11,000 of them for over one year. Does the Minister agree that after record levels of funding for Scotland in the last Budget, people in my constituency should be asking the First Minister and his Government, “Where’s the money gone, John?”

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. More patients are waiting a year for treatment in Ayrshire and Arran than in the entire south-west of England—that is shocking. Thanks to the investment the Chancellor has made, Scotland is receiving an extra £1.5 billion this year and £3.4 billion next year—the biggest funding increase since devolution. Labour is cutting waiting lists in England. Labour is cutting waiting lists in Wales. Why is the SNP failing where Labour is succeeding?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elaine Stewart and Wes Streeting

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Elaine Stewart (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab)]

6. What steps his Department is taking to help reduce NHS waiting times.

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

This Government are delivering on our commitment to cut NHS waiting lists and end the Tory backlog. We have taken immediate action with an additional £1.8 billion to support elective activity this year. That funding will support the delivery of our first step of 40,000 extra elective appointments a week. With investment must come reform, and the elective reform plan, published yesterday and announced by the Prime Minister, sets out how we will cut NHS waits to the 18-week standard, increase productivity, reform the system and improve patients’ choice and control over their healthcare.

[Elaine Stewart]

Almost one in six Scots is stuck on an NHS waiting list. People are borrowing money and remortgaging their homes to go private, because they cannot bear the pain. With an SNP Government who have abandoned the principles of an NHS free at the point of entry, does my right hon. Friend agree that Scotland’s health service needs a new direction?

[Wes Streeting]

I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. As I said during the general election campaign—it was quoted regularly by the SNP—all roads lead to Westminster. Down that road from Westminster is a record increase in funding for the Scottish Government through the Barnett formula. I know the Scottish Government published their own NHS recovery plan just before Christmas, and I look forward to reading it, although I know some have expressed concerns about the lack of detail in the plans to drive down waiting times. The Scottish people can therefore compare and contrast with the ambition of our elective reform plan, which was announced by the Prime Minister yesterday, and then decide at the next Scottish elections who they trust to govern: the SNP with its rotten record, or a Labour Government who will get on and deliver.