NHS Update

Debate between Helen Whately and Jon Trickett

Wednesday 21st July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jon Trickett (Hemsworth) (Lab)]

The whole country wants to see a proper pay rise for NHS staff, and we await the Government’s announcement. The central ethos of healthcare through generations and centuries has been the Hippocratic oath, which gives equal value to the lives and health of every single human being, including those over 80 years of age. Will the Minister stand up for the NHS and its core principle by rejecting the Prime Minister’s brutal philosophy of abandoning our older neighbours, friends and relatives?

[Helen Whately]

I do not accept what the hon. Gentleman says. From my position during the pandemic, I can say that we have tried, at every step of the way, to protect those who have been most vulnerable to this virus. It is a cruel virus, and it is particularly cruel to those who have weaker immune systems and those who are older. We have done all we possibly can, including putting over £2 billion of funding, PPE, testing and vaccinations into social care to do our utmost to protect those who are most at risk.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Helen Whately and Jon Trickett

Tuesday 13th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jon Trickett (Hemsworth) (Lab)]

What steps he is taking to increase pay and improve working conditions in the social care sector.

[The Minister for Care (Helen Whately)]

We recognise the extraordinary commitment and compassion of social care staff, especially during the pandemic. While the Government do not have direct responsibility for pay in adult social care in England, we want care providers to reward and support their staff appropriately for the vital work they do. During the pandemic we have asked care providers to pay staff full pay when they need to self-isolate and provided over £1.4 billion of extra funding to support the cost of this and other infection control measures.

[Jon Trickett]

First, I imagine the whole House will join me in mourning the 364 care workers who have died in public service since covid began. Many care workers have told me that they feel undervalued by the fact that their average salary is only £17,200. I am sure there are very few Ministers who could live on that kind of salary. They particularly feel devalued when they discover that the Government are paying nine times that salary equivalent to Test and Trace consultants. It is an outrage. Will the Minister now say how she will show that these people are valued by doing three things: first, end privatisation; secondly, insist on a proper salary rise; and thirdly, ensure that a professional career structure is instituted which recognises and rewards the professionalism, talent and commitment of these essential workers?

[Helen Whately]

I share the hon. Gentleman’s sorrow for the lives that have been lost among the health and social care workforce during the pandemic. I am determined that we will support and continue to support our health and social care workforce through these difficult times. One of the things that I want to achieve for our social care workforce, for whom I am truly ambitious, is that rather than doing something one-off for the pandemic, we should come up with a workforce strategy that will improve the opportunities for those working in social care to develop their careers, with a real career progression in working in that sector. That will be part of our social care reform proposals.