Hospitals

Judith Cummins Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

I will just make a little more progress, if I may. We are committed to rebuilding our NHS and rebuilding trust in Government. We will never play fast and loose with the public finances, and we will never try to pull the wool over the public’s eyes. Everyone in this House remembers, or should remember, that the last Labour Government cut waiting lists to their lowest level in history, raised patient satisfaction to the highest level in its history, and brought in historic health interventions, such as the smoking ban. What is less remembered is that they also delivered the largest hospital building programme in NHS history. All that meant that when the coalition took over in 2010, it was presented with a strong national health service that was firing on all cylinders. Tragically, that coalition Government and their successor Governments set about weakening and undermining every aspect of our precious NHS, to the extent that by the time this Government took over in July, the NHS was well and truly on its knees. Today, it once again falls to a Labour Government to take the necessary and right decisions for the future.

We have now put the new hospital programme on a sustainable footing. It has a timeline that can be met, and a budget consistent with our fiscal rules. That is how we have turned the programme from empty rhetoric into reality, and in doing so, we have provided the construction industry and its supply chains with vital certainty, while also restoring confidence in public sector procurement. We are on the side of the builders, not the blockers. Our plan is credible, achievable and fully funded. It is a programme grounded in fact, not fiction. I was born in Tredegar, the very same town as Aneurin Bevan, so it is the privilege of a lifetime to be part of a Government who are carrying his torch into the 21st century, building a generation of hospitals that would do Nye proud.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the shadow Minister.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

Order. I must now announce an immediate five-minute time limit for Back-Bench speakers, with the exception of the Chair of the Select Committee.

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[Chris Curtis]

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention, and for the work that her family have done for our national health service.

It is not the staff’s fault that our NHS has been let down; it is because of Tory Government after Tory Government, and decision after decision. Fourteen years of Conservative mismanagement have hollowed out our health service, and I welcome the opportunity to discuss this important issue today. Although I might not see eye to eye on everything with the Liberal Democrats, there is one truth that we cannot ignore: the NHS is facing serious challenges, and real change and investment are needed. However, people back home are not crying out for more motions; they are crying out for action, for delivery, and for change that they can see and feel. With this Labour Government, they are finally getting it.

When we came into office, we did not come in to manage decline; we came in to turn things around, to rebuild, and to restore a sense of hope and pride in our public services, starting with our NHS. We have seen that work across the country, with waiting lists falling for six months in a row. In my city, this Government have finally secured funding for the new women and children’s hospital that residents in Milton Keynes—a growing city—so desperately need, and construction is set to start in 2027-28. For too long, families have walked through the doors of my local hospital, which is simply not fit for purpose and has some of the longest waiting lists in the country. Let me be clear: it is completely unacceptable that it has taken this long to get funding in place. Milton Keynes has been one of the fastest growing cities in the country for years, and we have been left with far fewer hospital beds than we deserve and far fewer than the national average.

Despite some of the comments from Conservative Members, and despite the Conservative Government plastering the new hospital on all their leaflets, how much funding was actually secured by my hospital under the last Conservative Government? Given that it was “fully funded”, one would assume the figure was 100%. Was it 50% or 10%? No, just 4% of the “fully funded” hospital promised was actually secured by the previous Government. It is this Government who have found the other 96% to ensure that we can finally build the hospital that my city so desperately deserves. We are now trying to deliver a hospital that has been delayed not by local failure, but by national dither. Thanks to this Government, I get to be the MP who delivers what Tory MP after Tory MP promised my city but failed to deliver.

I want to ensure that we do not face further delays—not just because of the health risks to my city, but because of the cost increases. I have been told that every single month this project is held up costs an extra £700,000. That £700,000 could be invested in other important projects that have been mentioned by Members across the House. One potential hold-up is the Hospital 2.0 programme, which I am told is still not complete. Will the Minister look at whether that important work will hold up projects that we know are ready to go, such as in Milton Keynes? We need to fast-track these projects through the Treasury to ensure that there are no further bureaucratic blockages once the go-ahead has been given, especially bearing in mind that we have a track record in Milton Keynes of building to budget and on time. Give us the tools and we will build the hospital.

We must also be honest about what happens after the ribbon is cut. Even if we build the hospital, our health system in Milton Keynes will still be operating under immense strain. Thanks to the legacy of the last Government, our integrated care board is one of the most, if not the most, underfunded per person in the entire country. That has real consequences. It means that places including my local hospice, Willen hospice, which has provided vital end of life care to many members of my family, are being left to scrape by. This Sunday I will be running the London marathon for our local hospice, because I care deeply about the work it does. Marathons should not be the funding model for our healthcare system. We need sustainable investment, which starts with fairer funding for our ICB and fairer treatment for a city that has been overlooked for too long.

I will support anything in this House that helps us fix our NHS, and I will work with anybody who wants to rebuild it, but I will also say this: I am proud to be a member of a Government who are finally not just talking about the problem, but getting on with the solution. Let us build that hospital, let us fund our services properly, let us fix what is broken, and let us give people back the healthcare system they so desperately deserve.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee.

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[Layla Moran]

I am so sorry to hear about the experience of my hon. Friend’s constituent. In Lord Darzi’s report, there are some stark pictures of him sitting in substandard accommodation for the very sickest in our society. The Health and Social Care Committee is currently undertaking an inquiry into severe mental ill health, because we know that mental health is so often forgotten in the NHS. It is good that the mental health investment standard has been continued, but it is sad that the overall spend as a proportion of NHS spend is going down this year for the first time in the last few years. We very much hope that this is not a trend, but a one-off, and that it will continue to rise from next year.

For the Warneford, we need to understand what new innovative funding pots we can put together. We understand that the Government are working across Departments, and this project would be as much of an advantage to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as to the Department of Health and Social Care. Where are these pots of money, because they are important?

I will end simply by saying that I completely agree with the thrust of the motion—and, indeed, with what the Government have themselves said—which is that if we invest in capital expenditure, we need to take an invest to save approach. We know that this matters to our constituents, and we know that they cannot get the services they so desperately need. If we are to achieve the three shifts, we should not be pitting them against each other. Investing in capital will help the three shifts to succeed, and we do will the Government and the NHS to succeed.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

With an immediate four-minute time limit, I call Emily Darlington.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

Order. There is an immediate three-minute time limit.