Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Johanna Baxter and Andrew Gwynne

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)]

6. If he will make a comparative assessment of the adequacy of access to primary care services for men in (a) England and (b) Scotland.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Andrew Gwynne)]

As Lord Darzi identified in his NHS review, primary care is broken, with 1,600 fewer fully qualified GPs than in 2017. We recognise that men can face particular challenges in accessing services, which is why we are committed to fixing the front door to the NHS, bringing back the family doctor and shifting the focus of care away from hospitals and into the community. Health is devolved in Scotland, but I welcome opportunities to share learning across our two nations.

[Johanna Baxter]

In my Paisley and Renfrewshire South constituency, the rate of premature death in men is 47.9% higher than the UK average. According to National Records of Scotland, the number of people who have died by suicide in Renfrewshire as a whole has increased to the highest level in 10 years. Does my hon. Friend agree that this is a damning indictment of the SNP Government’s record on health? Will he commit today to holding a summit in November, with Movember, to raise men’s health up the agenda?

[Andrew Gwynne]

Those statistics are both damning and shocking. Health inequalities in any part of our United Kingdom need to be tackled, and the SNP Government have real questions to answer on these shocking statistics for men in my hon. Friend’s constituency and across Scotland. I will take up her challenge. A summit with Movember, and with her and other interested Members, to talk about men’s health issues is a cracking idea, and I will get straight on to it when I get back to the Department.