Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lillian Jones and Wes Streeting(3 weeks, 2 days ago)
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Sojan Joseph (Ashford) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)
This Government inherited an intolerable situation in A&E, where over a decade of Tory failures left patients waiting in pain. We are doing the hard work needed to start repairing that damage. Our new urgent and emergency care plan is backed by nearly £450 million, which will mean 800,000 fewer A&E patients waiting more than four hours this year, new urgent treatment centres, mental health crisis centres and almost 400 replacement ambulances. Those are just some of the steps that we are taking to rebuild our national health service.
Lillian Jones
I welcome the progress this UK Labour Government have made in reducing A&E waits in England. That sadly contrasts with a crisis in Scotland, where recent figures revealed 2,472 Scots waited over eight hours to be seen. Jackie Baillie rightly warned that
“Lives are being put at risk”
under the SNP, and it has been years since the Scottish Government last met any of their targets. Does the Secretary of State agree that only Labour in Westminster and in Holyrood has a serious plan to back NHS staff and cut waiting times?
Wes Streeting
I agree with my hon. Friend. There is no sign of the SNP Members this morning. They have obviously clocked off for the summer—or maybe they are just sparing their blushes, because the party has been in power for close to two decades in Scotland and has been steadily driving the NHS into the ground. The chair of BMA Scotland has said,
“the NHS is dying before our eyes”
with the SNP. It is on its fifth NHS recovery plan in less than four years. Scotland needs a new direction with a Scottish Labour Government. Working in partnership, we will fix the NHS across the United Kingdom and make it fit for the future.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lillian Jones and Wes Streeting(1 month, 4 weeks ago)
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Lillian Jones (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)
This Government are delivering record investment in our NHS, but that investment is drawn from taxpayers, and we have a responsibility to every taxpayer in the land—as well as to patients—to ensure that every single penny is well spent. That is why that investment is matched with bold reform, so that we get as much value as possible for every penny. The abolition of NHS England will slash duplication and unnecessary bureaucracy, and I am pleased to report to the House that we have slashed spending on agency staff by almost £1 billion compared with last year. All those savings are being reinvested into frontline care.
Wes Streeting
I would be delighted to do so. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: we have to ensure that the NHS is not only benefiting from, but at the forefront of the revolution taking place in digital services and medical technology. It is key to driving productivity and financial sustainability. That is why, at the spending review, the Chancellor announced that we would invest up to £10 billion in NHS technology and digital transformation; unlike our predecessors, we will not raid tech budgets to plug shortfalls in day-to-day spending. Just this month, we announced the modernisation of the NHS app, so that patients can receive test results and book appointments, saving £200 million in stamps, envelopes and letters.
Lillian Jones
I thank the Secretary of State for his earlier reply. In Scotland, there are more quangos than MSPs. After four years and £30 million of taxpayers’ cash down the drain, the SNP has scrapped its plans for a national care service—its flagship policy—which was seen as a significant setback for Scottish social care reform, and now we have people going to the pub in chauffeur-driven ministerial cars. Will the Secretary of State advise his Scottish counterpart on how to stop wasting Scottish taxpayers’ money?
Wes Streeting
Given the state of the NHS in Scotland, I suspect my counterpart needed to go and drown his sorrows. The truth is that the longer the SNP is in government, the longer the NHS in Scotland is on the road to nowhere. The SNP is now on its fifth health plan in four years. Thanks to the decisions taken by the Chancellor, it is not just the NHS in England that is receiving record investment, but the Scottish Government. I have used that investment to cut waiting lists by almost a quarter of a million people; the same could be true in Scotland, if the Scottish people boot out the SNP and elect Anas Sarwar and Jackie Baillie to deliver the change that Scotland’s NHS needs.