Summer Health and Resilience

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

The hon. Member is absolutely right to raise this issue. It is one of the first issues I raised with the Department of Health and Social Care teams during some of the first meetings I had after being appointed; at the height of some of the heatwaves, we were looking at what could be done to ensure that the right advice and requirements were going out to social care across the country. Many care homes did a phenomenal job, sometimes in difficult circumstances because of old buildings, but the hon. Member is absolutely right to point out areas where things did not happen in the way they needed to. We are looking further at this issue as part of the heat taskforce.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Secretary of State very much for her statement, and welcome the commitment she has made. Strangford’s ageing population rely heavily on robust community care and swift access to their GPs, so can the Secretary of State outline what specific discussions she is having with her counterparts in the devolved Administrations—particularly in Northern Ireland—to ensure a UK-wide co-ordinated approach to summer resilience? What targeted support has been made available for community pharmacy networks, which so often act as the frontline of defence when GPs’ surgeries are stretched to capacity, as we prepare for the cold and flu season?

[Yvette Cooper]

I can reassure the hon. Member that regular meetings and discussions take place, involving not just Ministers but chief medical officers across the devolved Administrations, to ensure there is co-ordination. There are areas where we can learn from each other, but there are also areas where we need proper co-ordination, particularly on some of the public health and information issues and—as the hon. Member rightly says—some of the issues that link into our economic supply chains, including community pharmacies.