Community Pharmacies

Joe Morris Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2026 Westminster Hall

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

As always, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I want to speak about rural community pharmacies. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Tiverton and Minehead (Rachel Gilmour) for securing this important and timely debate.

In my constituency, from Haltwhistle and Haydon Bridge to Bellingham, Ponteland and the villages across Tynedale, the local pharmacy is not simply a convenient service on the high street; it is the frontline of the NHS and a core and trusted custodian of community health and wellbeing. As has been said, rural healthcare works differently. People face geographical access challenges. Longer travel distances and limited public transport are both huge determinants of health outcomes. They face digital access challenges, with more frequent broadband and mobile connection issues. More than 30% of the population of my constituency is over the age of 65, and about 20% of the people in the communities I represent live with a disability. There are considerable accessibility challenges, which require assurance and support from a friendly and locally minded in-person service that community pharmacies are uniquely positioned to deliver.

I want to touch more broadly on the challenges of delivering healthcare rurally. When we speak about modernising the NHS—from the conversations that I have had with the Minister privately, I know he is aware of this—we need to ensure that making the NHS more digital does not leave behind rural areas, where the access challenge continues. I hope the broader challenges posed by the Health Bill are taken up by other Departments in addressing connectivity issues.

Whether they are managing the specific symptoms of a condition, collecting a prescription or accessing emergency contraception, or are a parent needing reassurance about their child’s symptoms, those in rural communities rely on proximity to their local pharmacy, given that the journey to a GP surgery or hospital is often unworkable, inaccessible or costly. In providing a wide range of health services, pharmacies play a crucial role in the broader mechanics of care, easing pressure on GP practices and helping patients to get the care they need more quickly. That is exactly the direction of travel proposed in the Health Bill. We want care closer to home, a shift towards prevention and better use of the wider healthcare workforce. If we are serious about delivering on those ambitions in rural areas, we have to be equally serious about supporting the infrastructure that makes that possible.

The reality on the ground is that community pharmacies, particularly those in rural areas, are under real strain. In England, around 90% of the population live within walking distance of a community pharmacy, but that falls to just 20% in rural areas. We have seen closures and reductions in opening hours, and in places like my constituency, the loss of a single pharmacy is not easily absorbed—it is not simply numbers on a spreadsheet. There is not always another one down the road; the next nearest pharmacy could be several miles away, beyond the reach of those without a car or effective public transport links.

I welcome the recently announced funding package for community pharmacies in England, but we need to address the further challenges to close the gap between the rising costs facing the sector and their increased delivery of services, which leaves community pharmacies vulnerable and, often, in a turbulent operating environment. Nearly 64,000 community pharmacy weekly opening hours were lost between September 2022 and June 2024. We cannot afford to lose any more, especially in rural constituencies. We need rural funding models that reflect reality and a continued commitment to innovation in community pharmacy. I urge the Minister to take forward those points.

Oral Answers to Questions

Joe Morris Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

This is unusually consensual today. The Government are committed to rolling out fracture liaison services across every part of the country by 2030. I promised that before the election, and that is what we are delivering. In fact, we have already started by investing in 14 hi-tech DXA—dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry—scanners, which are expected to provide an extra 29,000 scans to ensure that people with bone conditions get diagnosed earlier. I note that the shadow Secretary of State does not want to look to the past—I am not surprised, given the Conservatives’ record—but I am sure that we can work together in the future.

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

T2. For those in villages such as Slaggyford, Kirkhaugh and Mohope, the cottage hospital in Alston is closer than the hospital in Hexham. As my constituent Rowland outlined to me, despite that proximity, ambulance services find themselves restricted by county borders. Rural constituents’ access to healthcare and rapid response services are suffering as a result. Will the Minister meet me to discuss ambulance services in rural areas?

[The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)]

I holidayed in my hon. Friend’s constituency this summer—it is a very beautiful part of the world—so I understand some of the rural challenges. It is a matter for local integrated care boards how they organise ambulance services. There are many problems that we want to resolve, and I would of course be very happy to meet him.

Access to Primary Healthcare

Joe Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

I want to speak about some of the challenges I experience when I am out in my constituency. Whether before the election or since, whether I am out in Throckley in the western reaches of Newcastle or in Otterburn, Bellingham or Wark in the Tyne valley, the inability to get a decent GP appointment is continuously raised with me as one of my constituents’ greatest frustrations, and they appreciate the sheer scale of the task that this Government have inherited.

One of the things I want to gently ask of the health team on the Front Bench is that when we look at building the community health service that we so desperately need, we consider that our rural communities in particular have suffered from health services being hollowed out for 14 years. If people are forced to go on public transport and it takes hours to get between small towns and villages, the barrier to a GP appointment becomes all the bigger. That was communicated to me throughout the election in visits to wards that I do not think Labour canvassers had knocked in before. Many residents of Hexham raised it as one of the primary reasons for switching to the Labour party, and it is why I am stood here as Hexham’s first ever Labour MP.

Five out of the seven dentists in my constituency are not accepting new patients. That crisis is particularly acute in the western part of Newcastle, in Callerton and Throckley—it has been raised with me multiple times on the doorstep—and the devastating impact of that crisis on families and on people’s mental health, as well as their physical health, has been illustrated by many of the contributions from across the House. The absolute disgrace of people getting visibly emotional when talking about their struggle to secure a dentist’s appointment in 21st-century Britain is one of the many badges of shame that the Conservative party should wear as it considers its future. I note the empty spaces on the Conservative Benches.

Ultimately, I want to pay tribute to the GPs and frontline staff who work tirelessly to deliver healthcare across my constituency and further afield, but also to emphasise that the challenge facing the NHS has never been greater, particularly in rural areas. The NHS has been brought to its knees by 14 years of mismanagement and complacency, and we now need to rise to the challenge. I am confident that this health team and this Government will do so.