Oral Answers to Questions

Imran Hussain Excerpts

Tuesday 5th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Social Care (Helen Whately)]

I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend’s constituent. What the employer does is really important for retention and recruitment of adult social care staff, along with our ambitious workforce reforms for the care workforce.

[Imran Hussain (Bradford East) (Lab)]

T5. The Health Secretary declared at the weekend that the Government will miss their target to cut NHS waiting times if doctors strike to defend their pay and conditions, but she seems to forget that since the Tories took power in 2010, waiting lists for hospital treatments are up, A&E waiting times are up, cancer referral times are up and ambulance response times are up. The only thing that has fallen is not waiting times; it is public confidence in the Government. Will the Minister finally admit that the threat to waiting time targets is not striking doctors, but her party being in government?

[Victoria Atkins]

I assume from the hon. Gentleman’s question that he fully supports our efforts to get consultants back into hospitals as well as junior doctors and doctors in training. It is all very well to sit there commenting, but we on the Government side of the House are working with doctors to try to help them look after the NHS for us all.