Urgent Care Centres: Hillingdon

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Wednesday 10th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[David Simmonds]

I am grateful that my constituency neighbour is here. Had he the same degree of history in Hillingdon as myself and the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington, I am sure he would recall that the hotels were set up and opened as part of a dispersal programme started under the Labour Government in the mid-2000s and led by Andy Burnham, who is now the Mayor of Greater Manchester. I know that has placed ongoing pressure on the local area, but the number of people put into that initial accommodation who are now stuck locally is very large.

I am sure the hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Danny Beales) shares my concern that, under the recent announcements about local authority funding, Hillingdon remains broadly the same as it always has been, but I welcome his commitment to carry on the work started under the previous Government for the rebuild of Hillingdon hospital. I know the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington will be very aware that the work undertaken on sewerage and electronics for that new build over the last few years has presented a significant challenge to residents in accessing the hospital—I am sure his constituents complain about it as much as mine have done.

Indeed, the challenges that will come during the rebuilding process of the hospital on what is currently its car park are a further argument for why a minor injuries unit is important in this period. It creates a bit of additional capacity to help with potentially challenging times at A&E and the difficult logistical challenge of accessing a hospital whose car park is already constrained and will be the building site for a new hospital. All those are additional reasons why a minor injuries unit remains important.

It is noteworthy in this context that the move away from an open access unit to appointment-only, which took place following covid, has significantly reduced the footfall at the Mount Vernon unit and has driven up the cost per visit compared with the previous position. This is part of a pattern that we have also seen in the Harrow part of my constituency at the Pinn medical centre, where the loss of a walk-in facility has led to more patients attending the local A&E, to longer waits and, ultimately, to increased cost to the NHS, because A&E attendances are more expensive than nurse-led walk-in services such as that which is available at Mount Vernon.

The Minister knows all this personally. She knows how much value the local community—not just in Hillingdon, not just in Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, but across north-west London and into neighbouring Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire—places on that service and how often Members of Parliament representing places like Watford and the Harrow constituencies have been in touch to share their concerns about the delays and challenges faced by patients attending A&Es in Watford, Hillingdon or Northwick Park, which are the main destinations for alternative treatment.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this Adjournment debate. He has highlighted the issues in his constituency, and he is lucky enough that Hillingdon hospital is going to be refurbished. Given the delays to the Watford General refurbishment, where spades will not be in the ground until 2032 at the earliest, does he agree that Mount Vernon is even more critical for the surrounding areas with the capacity that it provides?

[David Simmonds]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, another constituency neighbour, for the support that he has lent to this campaign on behalf of his constituents. In a busy capital city, where there are all kinds of challenges arising not just from the airport but from our transport links, the pressure on some of those A&Es is higher than the NHS funding formula has traditionally recognised, and services such as minor injuries units have come into being over the years to make sure that that provision is there.

I know that my constituency neighbours’ constituents attend Mount Vernon not just to go to the minor injuries unit; it is also home to a cancer centre, a hospice, a private hospital, a general practitioners—a whole variety of NHS and private healthcare services—as well as to research and scanning, and nurses’ accommodation. All those things are incredibly important to the local community.

My asks of the Minister are straightforward. She understands as well as we all do that the NHS is always under financial pressure regardless of which party is in government, and she understands personally how much this unit at Mount Vernon hospital matters to local people across an area that is much wider than that served solely by the Hillingdon hospitals NHS foundation trust. She also understands that the vision of the 10-year plan puts great emphasis on out-of-hospital care. The commitment to the Northwood and Pinner cottage hospital started under the previous Government and now under construction at the site in my constituency is an example of the willingness of both this Government and the previous one to invest in those types of service. It therefore seems perverse to be closing down one such service that is already successfully in operation and that is both valued and has the potential to further reduce the cost and service pressures on our local NHS.

I ask the Minister simply to intervene with the trust and to ask her officials to engage with it about the wider impact that the closure will have beyond the Hillingdon hospitals trust alone. From the trust’s perspective, moving those staff and that budget on to the main hospital site will improve the look of its bottom line, but in the long term it will increase the costs to the NHS for those patients and reduce the quality of the service that they receive. Will she therefore consider encouraging the trust to move back to an open access model, as used to operate at the site, which would further reduce the number of A&E visits, which are costly to the NHS and stressful and time-consuming for patients? Will she confirm to the House that she notes the concerns that have been expressed so profoundly and across party by MPs from Hertsmere, Beaconsfield, South West Hertfordshire, East Harrow, and Hayes and Harlington, some of whom have taken the time even during a tube strike to be present for this debate to demonstrate the importance that they place on it?

Some have said that the more than 20,000 local people who signed the petition were expressing faux outrage. Those 20,000 people value the service. Many of them, including myself, have used it over the years. We know the benefit that it brings. We know that it is in accordance with this Government’s vision and strategy for the NHS. We know that, used properly, it can reduce costs to the NHS and improve the quality of service, not just for my constituents but for all our constituents. Will the Minister please intervene, ask the trust to think again and find a way to secure this valued service for the future, for local residents?

Oral Answers to Questions

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ashley Dalton]

Parkrun is a fantastic organisation that is doing amazing work. We know that movement saves the NHS around £10.5 billion a year, but 12 million adults are still inactive, and we need a team effort to succeed in getting millions more moving. There is a lot we can learn from Parkrun, and I would happily consider any invitation to meet it.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

The House has already heard the recent announcement about the closure of the urgent care centre at Mount Vernon hospital. My hon. Friends the Members for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (David Simmonds) and for Beaconsfield (Joy Morrissey) and I are all concerned about the quality of healthcare for our constituents, especially as the Labour Government have delayed the new Watford general hospital until at least 2032. What steps is the Minister taking to improve the quality of healthcare in our areas, instead of just making it worse?

Oral Answers to Questions

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Tuesday 17th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

My hon. Friend is right to raise that important point. It is truly shameful that 4.5 million children in the UK now live in poverty. We are developing an ambitious strategy that tackles root causes, and we are already taking action. Alongside cross-Government work on free school meals, breakfast clubs and funded childcare, the Department is investing £56 million in Start for Life services and supporting healthy diets for 358,000 people through Healthy Start.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

Opticians are important medical professionals for our community. Unfortunately, when I spoke to the Hertfordshire and West Essex integrated care board, I was told that it will not allow opticians to perform vital services such as treating minor eye injuries, as doing so is deemed too expensive, despite that being the norm in the areas surrounding my constituency. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can ensure a fair system across the country, rather than a postcode lottery?

[Stephen Kinnock]

The hon. Gentleman is right to point to the anomalies in the eyecare system. There are concerns about the role that some aspects of the independent sector are playing, particularly in the light of the lucrative nature of cataract operations. If he writes to me, I will be happy to set out the issues, and I guarantee that he will get the response in due course.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Karin Smyth]

Those statistics are shocking. Campaigns here and elsewhere have helped to raise awareness of endometriosis. The update to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines will help, as will more appointments, and our commitment to the 18-week target. Training for GPs is now part of the core curriculum, and we expect that to yield good results. NHS England and the Office for National Statistics have look-across to the statistics on diagnostic metric standards. I am happy to update my hon. Friend outside the Chamber, and I know other Members are also interested in how we are delivering on these commitments.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

My constituents in South West Hertfordshire remain concerned about the significant delay to the redevelopment of Watford general. With the Chancellor already bringing a second emergency Budget before the House tomorrow, and with care homes, hospices and charities facing unsustainable pressure from this Government’s national insurance increases, what reassurances can the Minister give my constituents that the Labour party truly care about healthcare, rather than scoring political points?

[Wes Streeting]

The irony! There is one big difference between what this Government are doing and what the Conservative party did for 14 years, which is that this Government will actually deliver a new Watford general hospital where the Conservative party failed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Karin Smyth]

I entirely appreciate the frustration and distress caused by medical supply shortages. We are working intensively with industry to resolve the HRT supply issues, and the problems with the supply of Estradot are expected to be resolved by the end of the month. Meanwhile, we have issued a serious shortage protocol to allow community pharmacists to supply alternative brands of the same medicine, and those remain available.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

T4. My constituent James, from Abbots Langley, wrote to me on the subject of the Chancellor’s recent talk about pushing infrastructure projects, such as the Heathrow airport expansion. Why is the Health Secretary not pushing for this infrastructure funding to be spent on the new Watford General hospital, a project that has cross-party support, is shovel-ready and will save lives?

[Wes Streeting]

If the hon. Member is so committed to that project, perhaps he can explain why his party did so little about it in government.

New Hospital Programme

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Dr Mullan]

In a moment.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Dr Mullan]

I will.

[Mr Mohindra]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this timely debate. As he will know, Dean Russell, the former Member of Parliament for Watford, was a keen advocate for Watford general hospital. He continued to make sure that we progressed the project for that hospital, which has a real impact on my constituency of South West Hertfordshire. Does my hon. Friend share my disappointment that Watford general is now not likely to get spades in the ground until 2032 at the earliest? Furthermore, some of the figures being bandied about are concerning. I know that the Minister has uploaded draft costs, but £1.5 billion to £2 billion seems a bit high for what was initially proposed.

[Dr Mullan]

I share that disappointment, which relates to some of the remarks that I will go on to make about how those costs will go up with the delays, because of the inflationary pressures globally.

To address the concerns about our role in the process, I remind the Minister that the Chancellor was specifically asked during the election campaign about commitments that were being made on tax and spend. She was also asked whether those commitments would have to change when Labour was in government, because of the fiscal challenges that she had not known about—

--- Later in debate ---

[Karin Smyth]

I thank my hon. Friend; I am happy to take interventions, but I need to finish by half-past 4, so I am conscious of time. He is absolutely right, and I will come on to his point.

We need to be very clear and honest with people about what was ready and about the different stages of these programmes, which we are very keen to do. Staff and patients deserve better. That is why the Secretary of State asked officials to review the programme and put it on a firm footing with sustainable funding so that all the projects can be delivered.

I thank the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle for his service to the NHS and his experience. I agree that it is appalling for staff. We all understand that he and I disagree in our political analysis, but he made some really well-informed points about models of care and future models of care, all of which we need to take into account in the delivery of this programme and other parts of the capital programme—and we will.

As the Secretary of State announced to the House on Monday, we now have a realistic plan to deliver the programme. I am pleased that we can be honest with people as we start a new chapter setting out a new commitment to deliver these hospitals, which are so important to all our constituents, that is realistic and backed with funding. We have worked closely with the Treasury to secure five-year waves of investment, backed by £15 billion of investment over consecutive waves, averaging £3 billion a year. This will ensure a balanced portfolio of schemes at different development stages being delivered now and into the future.

The new delivery plan sets out the order and the waves of investment in which each new hospital will be constructed. Hospitals included in a wave will begin construction, while forthcoming schemes will be undertaking pre-construction work to prepare planning permission and secure business cases. With this approach, we can ensure that schemes are ready to be built as soon as possible. A list of the schemes in each wave has been published on gov.uk and in the plan for implementation.

For reference, I will briefly outline the timeline for delivery. [Interruption.] Actually, I think we have seen all the waves, and the hon. Gentleman wants us to move on to Bexhill and East Sussex.

[Mr Mohindra]

For Watford general hospital, we have a window between 2032 and 2034. Given the certainty that the Minister is trying to give to the programme and to the rest of the country, what assurances and assumptions has she made for that two-year window? How can she assure me and my constituents that there will be no further delays?

[Karin Smyth]

I will pick up that point. Wave 3, which is what the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle has secured this debate on, includes schemes that were always part of a post-2030 plan. We now have the confirmed dates. The East Sussex new hospital scheme for East Sussex healthcare trust includes, as the hon. Gentleman says, new buildings and refurbishments at Eastbourne district general hospital, Conquest hospital and Bexhill community hospital. The scheme is in wave 3 of the delivery plan, and construction will commence between 2037 and 2039. We understand that this is disappointing news to some people who were expecting and were told that their hospital would be built earlier, but we can assure them that there is now a credible and funded plan for delivery—no more false promises. Our priority now is to get on and deliver these new hospitals for the benefit of the staff and patients who so vitally need them.

We understand the importance of these schemes to local communities and the need to invest in health infrastructure. We will continue to engage with trusts—including Watford, which the hon. Member for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Mohindra) mentioned—over the next few years to establish whether there are any other activities that can be progressed during the spending review. We will be in discussions with all those trusts to understand mitigations in the meantime. That was the source of many questions that came up in the many meetings that I held with hon. Members yesterday. I understand that all these hospitals are critical—they would not be on the list if there were not a major problem with them—so we need to talk to the trusts about how we manage the process in the meantime.

I acknowledge that this will be a difficult time for the core teams and all the people who have been working on these schemes, many of which will be stood down. Their expertise and knowledge is extraordinarily valuable. I know that the programme teams will make efforts to ensure that expertise is retained where possible and used to develop the wider programme.

The trust is currently developing its strategic outline case, as per the business case process set out in His Majesty’s Treasury’s Green Book. Following the review and approval of the SOC, the next step will be the development, review and agreement of the outline and full business case. I understand that many areas, including Bexhill, have plans for housing to accommodate a growing population. My Department will work closely with integrated care boards and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that those communities have the health provision that they need.

Beyond establishing a credible programme, we are taking steps to restore people’s trust through honesty and transparency. We will be setting out further information for each scheme shortly, to ensure a more open way of working and collaborative programme delivery.

Yesterday, I held meetings with Members of Parliament from all waves of the process to give them the opportunity to ask more detailed questions about their individual schemes, and to give them the clarity that their constituents deserve. Letters have also been issued to the trusts. That was a very successful way of working; I certainly learned a lot about the individual schemes. Members of Parliament of all parties came to talk about their schemes. I gave a commitment that I would continue to talk to colleagues about them. I absolutely offer the same to the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle. I will work with Members’ trusts to understand the detail on the ground.

--- Later in debate ---

[Karin Smyth]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. We learned a lot yesterday from the expert team from the new hospital programme; I thank them for their incredible work in getting to this point. Those colleagues who could make the meetings yesterday found that the team’s knowledge about every single programme was phenomenal. I have yet to ask the team a question about any scheme to which they do not know the answer—I give hon. Members that confident assurance. The team includes colleagues from both NHS England and the Department.

When I went to an assurance meeting a few weeks ago, I learned that the relationship between the central control of the programme and the trusts, how we get the schemes delivered for everyone’s constituents, and the value of parliamentarians talking to me—everyone has stopped me in the corridors to raise these issues—are all very valuable. That is a good function of parliamentarians. That is the spirit in which we want to continue.

Our commitment is to deliver these hospitals, including the Eastbourne district general, Conquest hospital and Bexhill community hospital schemes, and I am pleased to say that we have an affordable, deliverable plan to do so. It will be difficult, but I look forward to working with the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle and other colleagues.

[Mr Mohindra]

It is very gracious of the Minister to allow me to intervene again. In the interests of full transparency, can she assure us that if the development of the new hospitals gets delayed, all MPs will be informed, not just those in the relevant constituency? Work on Watford general is meant to begin between 2032 and 2034. Will the Government communicate any further delays as quickly as possible? That will certainly be critical to our constituents.

[Karin Smyth]

We absolutely will. This is one of the advantages of the waves: we recognise, and everybody knows, that there are sometimes unavoidable delays to schemes, perhaps to do with the sites, but the advantage of the pre-construction work and our knowledge of the sites is that most of that should be built into the programme and the timing. But life happens.

One of the central issues for the programme is capacity in the construction arena, as well as across the country, in terms of developing primary estate to get these things done. The advantage of the waves is that they give us flexibility if things move, as they inevitably will—that is life. We very much want to keep up relationships with local trusts and inform them. That will be difficult, as my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Danny Beales) says, but that is the spirit in which we want to continue. I give him and other colleagues that absolute commitment.

Question put and agreed to.

New Hospital Programme Review

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

There’s an offer I can’t refuse. My hon. Friend is a great champion of health and care services in her community and has enormous experience in local government. We are always looking for best practice. We want to take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, and we would be delighted to hear more about the success in her community.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

As the Secretary of State will be aware, I and MPs from surrounding constituencies wrote to him at the beginning of December to talk about Watford general hospital. I am sure that I speak on behalf of the two Labour MPs, one Lib Dem and a Conservative colleague when I say we are disappointed that he has decided to delay reconstruction of Watford general until at least 2030. Notwithstanding my public disappointment and given that all six of us campaigned actively on investment in Watford general, the statement says that further details will be provided in the hospital building programme. If there are assumptions there that we wish to challenge—such as build cost—do we go to the Secretary of State or the Minister of State with those questions?

[Wes Streeting]

The Minister of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol South (Karin Smyth), will be holding briefings tomorrow for Members from across the House and is happy to receive further questions. The hon. Member seems to be saying on the one hand to go faster, and on the other that he wants to challenge underlying assumptions in the scheme. He cannot have it both ways. As I said to some of his hon. Friends, if he is disappointed with this Government as we clean up the mess they left behind, goodness knows the self-loathing he felt when they were in government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Tuesday 11th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

2. What steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for NHS treatments.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

15. What recent progress he has made on reducing the number of patients waiting more than 18 months for elective care.

--- Later in debate ---

[Steve Barclay]

On the last bit of the question, the average waits in Wales are 20.4 weeks as of April, and in England they are 13.8 weeks, which is the exact opposite of the point the hon. Lady raises. We are taking action. We are boosting diagnostic capacity; 111 community diagnostic centres are now open. We are increasing treatment capacity through our surgical hubs programme. We are giving patients choice, which is not available in Wales under the Labour Administration—we are giving them more choice. We are also making better use of the independent sector, which some on the Labour Front Bench support but others do not.

[Mr Mohindra]

One of my constituents has now been waiting 14 months for a hysterectomy, while another waited years to receive a much-needed hip replacement. That is way over the 18-week standard set out by the NHS Constitution. Can the Secretary of State tell the House what is being done to get wait times down to that 18-week mark?

[Steve Barclay]

We recognise the challenges from the pandemic, and that is why we are boosting capacity, particularly through our community diagnostic centres. The additional capacity has already delivered more than 4 million extra tests and scans. We are rolling that programme out with the target of 160, and 111 are already in place.

Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Tuesday 17th January 2023 Westminster Hall

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg, and I commend my right hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng) for securing this really important debate.

Nikki Speed was referenced earlier, and she is in the Public Gallery. She is actually one of my constituents, and I will use the words the hon. Member for Hammersmith (Andy Slaughter) used earlier: “Thank you for educating me.” As someone who has not been blessed with children, I was not aware of SUDC until the run-up to this debate. The really important point about today’s debate is that it is about educating more people about SUDC.

I will come on to various themes a bit later, but I hope the Minister will take away three important aspects: one is about education, the second is about research and the third is about the need for more public information. In my eyes, it would be quick win to update the NHS website with details about SUDC.

[Robert Courts (Witney) (Con)]

I have also been very moved by the many constituents who have written to me on this issue. My hon. Friend mentioned three points, all of which are important, but does he agree that the key one is perhaps research, which focuses in on causation? Although we will be able to see some common factors, no information we give will be helpful unless we understand the causation?

[Mr Mohindra]

Unsurprisingly, my hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and I will cover it in a short while.

Mortality statistics from Nomis indicate that about 128 children between one and 19 died of SUDC between 2013 and 2021. That is 128 families and their friends who have been devastated by sudden death. Unfortunately, in Hertfordshire, we had six deaths between 2017 and 2022; indeed, they were all in 2020.

I know that Nikki has put her own journey—her own story—on her website, and would I direct people to visit SUDC UK website. She went through great trauma back in 2013 when she lost her second child, Rosie. When my staff and I were researching for this debate in my office, all of us were emotionally moved by that, because we could all relate to the fact that this could potentially have happened to a loved one. Actually, not that long ago—back in December—I referenced the fact that I have another new niece, and I remember the joy I felt when I described her in the main Chamber. The other side of the coin would be the emotional shock of having to talk about the distress of losing someone at a young age.

With Rosie’s story, what made things worse was that it was the run-up to Christmas—there was a reference earlier to another family who unfortunately lost their child on Boxing day. For those families, what is meant to be a joyous time for families and friends will, unfortunately, forever be a real sore spot of emotional trauma, and the unknowns mean there has not really been much in the way of closure.

We have spoken about research. Hopefully the Minister, who is a very good Minister, will take away from the debate the fact that more research needs to be done. The Government have levers to help influence that, but I would urge academia to do more as well. It should not always require a Government steer to do the right thing.

We have spoken about the success of research into sudden infant death syndrome and about how, off the back of 13,000 research papers, there has been an 80% decline in deaths from SIDS. To date, according to my research, we have had only 55 research papers on SUDC, so there is a huge gap there, which can potentially—hopefully—be rectified.

In December 2022, the National Child Mortality Database reported data on SUDC for the first time ever. I hope we will continue to be report it, and in more detail, because what we have heard in other speeches today—my right hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne articulated it amazingly well—is that the lack of knowledge is the main barrier to finding a long-term solution.

I will leave it at that, because I am sure there will be other excellent speeches forthcoming. However, I echo my right hon. Friend in saying that I believe that this is the start of the journey in educating more people in this place, and hopefully up and down the country, about SUDC.

[Derek Twigg (in the Chair)]

I call Robbie Moore, and I ask you to take account of the time as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Tuesday 6th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

I simply direct the hon. Member to the Barnett consequentials. As a former Chief Secretary who has had those discussions with the Welsh Finance Minister I know, and the hon. Lady should know, that Wales gets significantly more funding per head of population than England. I hope she welcomes the fact that, through the extra £6.6 billion in the autumn statement, the First Minister will have a significant uplift, and it is for him to decide how he wishes to spend that money.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

I was recently contacted by Amanda in my beautiful constituency of South West Hertfordshire, whose 88-year-old mother had fallen in her flat and unfortunately broken her hip. After waiting for five hours and making two calls to 999, her mother was still lying on the floor. Once they arrived at A&E, Amanda and her mother waited several more hours before being seen. Can my right hon. Friend assure the House that he is doing everything possible to find a solution to this system-wide issue?

[Steve Barclay]

My hon. Friend raises an extremely important case. I am happy to meet him to discuss it further, because it is a concerning case and I am keen to engage with him on it.