Mental Health Bill [Lords]

Julie Minns Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 19th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Webb (Blackpool South) (Lab)]

I have spoken many times in this House about mental health because I see the impact of poor mental health every day in Blackpool—in our communities, our families and, tragically, our children and young people. Today I want to focus the House’s attention on them. As a mental health advocate and former chairman of an award-winning mental health charity in Blackpool, I have witnessed a growing and urgent need to support our young people. Now as the MP for my home town, in the midst of a severe mental health crisis, desperate parents come to me every day asking for help.

A mother recently contacted me about her 14-year-old daughter. In just four months, her child attempted to take her own life three times by overdose. The minimal support they had was hard fought for, and it was inconsistent and incohesive. The family are on constant high alert in case their daughter tries to take her own life again. As a new parent, I cannot comprehend how they must be feeling day to day. No family should be left in that situation, let alone have to fight for the help that should be there from the outset.

Earlier this month, I sat down with young people, parents, teachers, community leaders and the police to discuss the links between bullying and mental ill health. Among the brave young people who shared their stories was Elsie. She spoke about how bullying about her appearance began in primary school and intensified in secondary school. She became anxious and depressed and eventually stopped going to school. She was moved from top to bottom sets, and her academic attainment plummeted. She told me she hated herself, but because she was seen as one of the ones that was acting up, she was punished by the adults around her—she was seen as the problem. The real problem was that no one listened, and the painful truth is that her experience is far from unique.

When young people speak up about their mental health, our job is first to listen and then to act. That is why this Mental Health Bill matters. It delivers on the Government’s commitment to modernise the Mental Health Act and give people greater autonomy to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect during their care. It strengthens the voice of patients, gives statutory weight to their rights to be involved in decisions about their treatment, increases scrutiny of detention and seeks to limit the use of the earlier Act to detain those with learning disabilities.

The most recent NHS figures show around 135 hospital admissions of 10 to 24-year-olds in Blackpool due to self-harm in the year to March 2024—a sharp rise from about 100 the year before. That is more than double the national average. Child in-patient admissions for mental health conditions in Blackpool are also significantly higher than the national average. Children in care, care leavers, young carers and those living in poverty are especially vulnerable and too often are the ones failed most severely. This inadequacy extends to detention. We know that people living in deprived areas are more than three and a half times more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act than those in more affluent parts of the country. That is a staggering and unacceptable disparity and the sad reality for my constituents in Blackpool South.

The Bill takes a much-needed step forward, introducing a 28-day limit on detaining people with a learning disability or autism who do not have co-occurring mental health conditions. I support the reform, but it cannot come into effect until we have sufficient community services, which my community is crying out for. In that context, I welcome the plan to expand community-based support. The Government have committed to walk-in mental health hubs in every community, more accessible support workers and a specialist mental health professional in every school—all desperately needed in Blackpool. Those essential steps must be backed by funding, urgency and clear timelines, because right now our youth mental health services are stretched beyond capacity. Young people in Blackpool and across the country are too often placed on adult wards, sent far from home or left to fend for themselves until they reach crisis point.

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. I have had a stark case in my constituency involving a young woman aged 15 with anorexia. Sadly, because we do not have the in-patient facilities in our area, she was detained and confined to a wheelchair. She did not feel that her wishes, or those of her mother, were taken into account during her stay. She was eventually placed in an in-patient ward out of county. Does he agree that one of the Bill’s strengths is that it will give my constituent a voice and a right to have her wishes heard?

[Chris Webb]

I completely agree. A family member of mine was recently suffering from a mental health crisis but could not be placed in Blackpool and had to go hundreds of miles away. That is not acceptable. Patients must have a greater say and they need more support.

Mental health charity Mind points out that children are being restrained, ignored and left to navigate a confusing system alone. That is not a system built on dignity or care. We must strengthen legal safeguards for children and young people. I urge the Government to introduce a statutory framework for assessing capacity in under-16s. Without one, their voices are too easily sidelined. Statutory care and treatment plans should be extended to every young person who receives mental health care. We need stronger protections for children placed in inappropriate or unsafe settings far from their families and communities.

In their consideration of these reforms, will the Government clarify how they plan to implement the new model of specialised mental health services for children and young people, particularly in the light of the abolition of NHS England? What specific provisions will be included for children and young people in the updated service specifications and legislative reforms? Will the Government commit to a series of sustained reforms of the wider system, so that children and young people can access effective early support in their communities before they ever reach crisis point? The Bill cannot be seen in isolation from the wider challenges facing young people’s mental health. Reforming the Mental Health Act is crucial, but it must be matched by real-world changes to services, staff and support on the ground.

Elsie’s story of unchecked bullying at school affecting her mental health and future prospects matters—as do the thousands of untold stories from children across the country. They deserve a system that listens to them, values their voices and responds with the care that they need. They deserve support that meets them wherever they are, not once they have already reached the edge. They deserve the dignity, compassion and care that the Bill aspires to deliver. Let us ensure that we do not waste this opportunity.

Hospitals

Julie Minns Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

I declare an interest: my daughter is an NHS nurse. I want her, her colleagues and the patients they care for to have buildings that are safe, secure and suitable for their needs.

Nowhere is it more apparent that our NHS is broken than in our crumbling hospitals. My own mam recently spent two and a half months in hospital—the majority in one of our local community hospitals, which I am sure is not alone in being held together by the professionalism and care of its staff, rather than by the fabric of the building itself. Lord Darzi’s report paints a stark picture of the crumbling buildings in our health service and of a primary care estate in which 20% of the buildings predate the founding of the health service.

I am very much an advocate for preserving historic buildings, but I draw the line when it comes to hospitals that are not fit for purpose. That is why we need an NHS fit for the future, which starts with buildings fit for its staff and the patients they care for. Crumbling old buildings, and indeed modern buildings with inadequate staff facilities, lead to low morale and low productivity. That is why repairing, rebuilding and improving our healthcare estate is central to this Government’s plan for change and to our health mission.

We are delivering that plan. It includes, as we have already heard, £13.6 billion in healthcare capital spending, over £4 billion in operational capital, and over £1 billion to tackle critical NHS maintenance. Let us compare that with the record of the previous Government: under-investment in the estate, record low public satisfaction in the NHS, record high waiting lists, doctor strikes allowed to drag on and on, and a new hospital programme years behind schedule with no money beyond March 2025.

This Government are committed to rebuilding our NHS, and that is happening on the ground now in my Carlisle constituency, with funding for a new £12 million urgent treatment centre, which was approved in December and is on track to be opened by the end of this year. That is the change that Carlisle needs, it is the change our country needs, and it is the change our Government are delivering.

Women’s Health Strategy

Julie Minns Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Karin Smyth]

I completely agree with the right hon. Member. Donna Ockenden’s work is hugely valuable, and a lot of faith and trust has been placed in it, particularly by families. I do not know specific dates, but the Secretary of State and my noble Friend Baroness Merron, who leads on this work, have been discussing the matter with Donna Ockenden. I am happy to get back to the right hon. Member with the details.

On the specific point about the remit, I do not know the answer to that question. It is entirely sensible to look at progress and learn from mistakes. I know it is a challenge system, and we have to learn from those areas. If there are specific things to report back to the right hon. Member, I will get back to him, but this issue is absolutely a priority. The Secretary of State is meeting families directly. We know and understand that we have to do much better on this for everybody.

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

Having listened to the shadow Minister, I am slightly tempted to suggest to the Minister that our women’s health strategy include provision for the treatment of collective memory loss. The shadow Minister completely ignored the fact that the Tories let our NHS fall into disrepute over the past 14 years.

I want to ask specifically about how our health strategy will deal with treatment and support for young people, particularly young women, suffering from depression and anxiety. That follows a tragic case in my constituency and a coroner’s report last week, which found that our local hospital was not able to support that patient.

[Karin Smyth]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight some tragic incidents, and I know she will be working hard on behalf of her constituents. We are absolutely committed to the women’s health strategy. Clearly, that will be taken forward as part of the 10-year plan, and it is an important part of that. I met my noble Friend Baroness Merron yesterday and the team supporting that plan to make sure that we understand how those key issues are taken forward.

This is an opportunity, if I may, Madam Deputy Speaker, to say that the consultation on that plan is still open for ideas. We are keen to hear in particular from young people to make sure that we get a true representation. These sorts of things are not often consulted on, so we encourage young people and people who are suffering from depression and mental health issues to contribute their thoughts about the system they face as part of our 10-year plan consultation.

NHS Backlog

Julie Minns Excerpts

Monday 6th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

Happy new year, Madam Deputy Speaker. Before I begin, I declare an interest, in that my daughter is an NHS nurse.

My Carlisle constituency includes Cumbria’s only city, but it also has a vast rural hinterland stretching from Rockcliffe in the west to the outer edge of the Northumberland national park in the east. Although my constituency’s rurality and relative geographic isolation make getting to appointments challenging, getting an appointment at all is by far the greatest challenge.

As of October 2024, NHS North Cumbria’s waiting list stood at 43,000. As for the target of 92% of NHS patients being seen for elective treatment within 18 weeks, the rate was just 59%. However, in 2010, the figure was 93.5%. In 2010, public satisfaction with the NHS stood at 70%, the highest rate ever recorded. By 2023, it had hit an all-time low of 24%.

Let us remind ourselves of what happened between 2010 and 2024. First, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Sojan Joseph) outlined, we had the disastrous Lansley reforms—reforms that the King’s Fund described as a “major distraction” for the NHS. They caused huge, unnecessary upheaval and created an “unwieldy” structure with “fractured leadership”. On top of those reforms, the Conservatives led a decade of under-investment in our health service. Spending grew by just 2% a year in real terms between 2010 and 2019, well below the long-term average in England of 3.8%, which we had seen since the 1980s. That meant that when covid struck, the NHS was already severely constrained in what it could do. The result is that overall waiting lists have risen to three times their 2010 levels, and 18 weeks is now more like 18 months. That is the record after 14 years of the Conservative Government, and why I am relieved that our NHS is no longer in the Conservatives’ hands.

As the Prime Minister set out today, this Government have a plan. By creating millions of extra appointments, we will finally get to grips with our backlog and give back millions of people their lives and livelihoods. I am delighted that there is recognition of the importance of providing services close to people, which is vital in rural constituencies like mine. That, and the injection of £26 billion into the NHS, will make a real difference for millions of people across the country. We are already seeing that difference in Carlisle, with the approval of a new £12 million urgent treatment centre at the Cumberland infirmary, which is set to open by the end of this year.

I am also delighted that north Cumbria will be one of the beneficiaries of a new £45 million pot set aside to create health and growth accelerators. These will not just improve health outcomes locally, but research the most effective approaches to helping people back into work and to standing on their own feet. That is Labour’s plan in action. This Government will set the shattered bones of our NHS.

NHS: Independent Investigation

Julie Minns Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I welcome the hon. Member to his place and thank him for that question. I am always cynical about huge volumes of regulation. We reassure ourselves as legislators and regulators that putting regulations in place means that we have dealt with the issue. But the problem is that if we fail to deliver, we put another regulation in place, then another, and then more, and before we know it, we have drowned the people responsible for delivery in so much regulation that they cannot sort the wheat from the chaff or see the wood for the trees, compromising standards and patient safety. That is why I welcome the work that Penny Dash has done in relation to the Care Quality Commission, and we will continue to work with her to reduce the burden of regulation, focus on the things that really matter and free NHS staff from red tape. I hope that he finds that reassuring. I plead with him not to send his party leader to agree with me as well, or I really will be in trouble.

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

I declare an interest as the mother of an NHS nurse. It is important that we remember what is at the centre of this issue: people. Three individuals came to my Carlisle surgery last week because they were at the end of their tether about the care that their loved ones had received, or not received, at our local hospital. One is the husband of a woman who has profound physical disabilities and cannot leave the House unaccompanied. She now has no trust in her local hospital because, among other things, her recent care involved her being fed food that she was known to be allergic to.

I also saw the parents of a young woman who has epilepsy, a physical disability and profound anxiety. The failure to put in place a care plan to account for all that means that she is now self-harming. The other case was that of an elderly woman whose husband was discharged from the hospital without her consent. He is now in a care home 20 miles away, and she cannot visit him. Will the Secretary of State assure those people that this Government will not only fix our NHS, but restore their broken trust in it?

[Wes Streeting]

I am so grateful to my hon. Friend. I enjoyed visiting her Carlisle constituency ahead of the general election campaign, and I look forward to working with her to improve health services there and across the north-west, especially in the rural and coastal communities that rely on the hospital in Carlisle, as well as on more local neighbourhood services. I must warn new Members that one of the most depressing things about the last nine years has been constituency advice surgeries, where people would come to see us about the consequences of the failure of Government and the failure of this place. We owe it to them to do better—better integration of health and care services, better access and outcomes, and better joined-up care. As she has painfully described, if we do not tackle the problems early, they become multiple, higher-cost and personal tragedies. We have seen enough of that.