Oral Answers to Questions

Janet Daby Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd May 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I commend my right hon. Friend for his commitment to his constituents. I know that he and my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel) met both the Minister for Health and Secondary Care and the Minister for Social Care recently to discuss this issue. I understand that the ICB has extended its consultation by three weeks to ensure that more consideration can be given and voices can be heard, but I will ensure that the relevant Minister keeps my right hon. Friends updated on the progress of this.

[Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

Q8. My constituent has recently applied to move from her council home because she can no longer walk up the stairs and is in constant pain. She has been waiting for an knee operation for more than two years and has become progressively worse. She feels forgotten and neglected. Does the Prime Minister agree that his Government are failing and that this country is waiting for a Labour Government to bring down NHS waiting lists?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course I am sorry to hear about the experience of the hon. Lady’s constituent. We are putting in more money and rolling out more elective surgical hubs to bring the waiting lists down. She talks about the difference that the Labour party would make to the NHS. Her constituents can just look to Wales to see what is happening when it comes the NHS: a quarter of the Welsh population on a waiting list, the worst emergency care performance in Great Britain, people on long waiting lists five times more than they are in England and, on average, people waiting 40% longer for treatment. That is the reality of Labour and the NHS—failing.