NHS Long-Term Plan

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Henry Smith

Monday 18th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Any funding commitment made by the UK Government will be appropriated to Wales in accordance with the Barnett formula. That is the procedure that we have followed. The choice for the Welsh Government is whether they put all that money into the NHS or, as they have done in the past, choose to prioritise it elsewhere.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

I very much welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement that some of the subscriptions that we will no longer be paying to the European Union will be redeployed for the national health service. Under the last Labour Government, Crawley Hospital lost its A&E department and its maternity department. Over the last eight years, services have been returning. Can I have an assurance that this additional spending on the NHS will follow through with the return of further local services?

[Mr Hunt]

It absolutely needs to boost local services. If there is one lesson that we have learnt from the last few years, it is that we will not, in the long run, crack the funding pressures in our health system unless we find a way of properly investing in local services, which I know my hon. Friend has campaigned for so hard.

Breast Cancer Screening

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Henry Smith

Wednesday 2nd May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

That is a good point. I can assure my hon. Friend that the Department will be leading a big consultation exercise so that everyone is informed about how their individual organisations will be affected.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on blood cancer, I am pleased that the Secretary of State talked about the lessons that will be learned from this breast screening error. Will he assure me that what is picked up will inform future diagnostic programmes?

[Mr Hunt]

Absolutely. That will be one of the most important things that the review does.