Summer Health and Resilience

John Slinger Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

I too take very seriously the pressures on acute hospitals across the country, including the pressures around beds and services. It is really important that we have the right kinds of facilities. I believe that the prevention work for people who do not need to be in hospital and who would be better cared for in the community has to start straight away, because that is the right thing to do.

We want to take further measures around neighbourhood health, and we are building plans right across the country that we want to see more of, but none of that is an alternative to having good acute care and strong hospitals that perform well; we all need those to be there whenever we need them. However, we are not serving patients and communities in the best possible way if we are not also doing more to prevent people needing to go into hospital—certainly for long stays—in the first place.

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

I warmly welcome the Secretary of State to her place. She rightly said that the NHS is its staff, so I pay tribute to the NHS staff in my constituency. Obviously, there are the doctors and nurses, but there are some people who do not always get mentioned, such as the allied health professionals, the caterers, the cleaners, the administrators, the managers and, may I say, the porters, since I was one in my 20s. They all do a fantastic job, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. I use those services in my constituency, and they are improving thanks to the work of this Government since July 2024. However, there is obviously much further to go, particularly in urgent care services.

In my constituency of Rugby, like in many towns, there are urgent treatment centres that do a very good job, and I am very grateful to the Government for their investment in those. May I make a plea for some of the £450 million that the Secretary of State mentioned in her statement? Will she take a look at the urgent care centre in Rugby, where my constituents feel that more could be provided? I fully agree with them, so I hope that she can at least take a look at that.

[Yvette Cooper]

I join my hon. Friend in thanking the NHS and social care staff in Rugby. He is absolutely right to refer to the allied health professionals, support staff, catering staff and, crucially, the porters. He has raised that last point with me before; as some of the staff who spend the most time in direct contact with patients, they are hugely important. We must never underestimate the importance of every role in our health service, so I welcome his point. We have provided £450 million to transform urgent and emergency care, and we are already seeing improvements taking place, despite the very strong pressures on emergency care. I pay tribute to all those involved.