Hospitals
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(3 days, 6 hours ago)
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Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to speak in the debate. The previous Government made off-the-cuff commitments to new hospitals that were never going to be affordable or deliverable; I am really proud to be part of a Labour Government who commit only to what we can afford. We stick to our promises and deliver them. The rapid progress that we have made towards improving the NHS, reorienting it towards frontline delivery, is a fantastic example of that.
Over 3 million more appointments were delivered in the first nine months of this Government—that is well ahead of the target—and over 100,000 people have been treated on time. Those are great statistics, but when I knock on doors and meet residents, I hear about the difference that that has made to them and their families. People are back on their feet, back at work, and back being active parents and grandparents sooner than they could have imagined. This is politics that is delivering for people. It is not the politics of easy answers, but the politics of progress, and of change to people’s lives.
I will highlight one change that will be particularly important in my constituency of Aylesbury as we continue the work of transforming the NHS, including through the new hospital programme: the need to better integrate primary and secondary care. There is great potential for savings there, if we think about the secondary and primary care estates in the round. More importantly, that will help bring traditionally hospital based-care closer to the community; it will be better care that has better outcomes for people.
As I have said in this place before, we face an acute challenge in Aylesbury with our GP surgeries. We had new housing estates built in a poorly planned way under the previous Government, without the necessary GP services being provided. We also have particularly high levels of deprivation in Aylesbury and the county of Buckinghamshire—it is really marked by inequalities—which contributes to the pressures on our GP services.
The Government have already made significant progress in improving GP provision; 1,500 new GPs have been recruited, and successful negotiations with the British Medical Association have resulted in the biggest uplift in funding for GPs in years. I think that will start to make a real difference.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
Has the hon. Lady had any feedback, in conversations with her GPs, about what the increased employer national insurance contributions will do to their growth of provision?
Laura Kyrke-Smith
I am in regular contact with my GPs, and I know that they are really pleased, actually, with the uplift in funding that they have received through the contract, and with what they will be able to deliver with that.
As we think about the future of hospital provision, we must think about our healthcare in the round—what each community needs more broadly, and how we join up hospital services with those provided by our GPs, and with other community services. I am really excited by the work already under way in Buckinghamshire to establish integrated neighbourhood teams and I am pleased at this Government’s commitment to neighbourhood health centres.
In Buckinghamshire, and particularly in Aylesbury, all our key health organisations are coming together—including the acute and community NHS trusts, primary care, the local authority, public health, the mental health trust and voluntary sector organisations—to agree a collective plan for the next 10 years, which I think could be transformative. They are pooling their collective resources and teams across Stoke Mandeville hospital and three primary care networks, and looking not only at creating a centre in Aylesbury for shared delivery of services, but at providing better care out in the communities.
As we build our hospitals of the future across the country, it is essential that we plan in that way—not just for in-hospital care, but for a joined-up approach across all our services, bringing that care closer to our communities. Ultimately, that is what people want and what people need: a future healthcare system in which as many people as possible can access care close to home and manage their health in their own homes and their own communities as best as possible.
NHS Pensions
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(3 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Karin Smyth
I am sorry to hear about the emotional and financial distress of the hon. Lady’s constituent. If there is a gap, I am happy to go back to the NHSBSA on her behalf and make sure that I update the House.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
Does the Minister have full confidence in the chair of the NHS Business Services Authority?
Karin Smyth
As I said in my statement, we have confidence in the business authority to undertake the actions that I have outlined.
New Hospital Programme Review
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(3 months ago)
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Wes Streeting
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has raised this issue consistently and persistently with me since she was elected. I can reassure her and her constituents that pre-construction work will begin from 2028 to 2030, with construction starting in 2031 and lasting until 2032. I am extremely sorry that my hon. Friend’s constituents were led up the garden path; I rather feel that they have already rumbled the Conservatives by sending her to Parliament, but for as long as there is a Labour Government, we will deliver for the people of Kettering.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
I will say it, because no one else has: many happy returns for tomorrow. I genuinely thought that you were in your mid-30s—that the Secretary of State was in his mid-30s.
Lincoln Jopp
I also congratulate the Secretary of State on coming to the Chamber with such a massive capital expenditure announcement and eliciting a saving with his answer to the first question from the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh).
One of the plans that went by the board in May, for reasons I have not quite got to the bottom of, was for the Staines health and wellbeing centre, which is one of only six community diagnostic hubs that NHS England has allocated in England. The funding got pulled in May; will the Secretary of State please have another look at it?
Wes Streeting
I thank the hon. Gentleman very much for that question. I think he is going to go far in this place, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I would be delighted to look favourably on his representations about his local facilities.
Winter Preparedness
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(4 months, 1 week ago)
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Karin Smyth
We have made it absolutely clear, as did the NHS in its letter today, that patient safety is the watchword this winter. We have targets in relation to monitoring the performance of the system, but we absolutely want to ensure that patients are kept safe as we go through the next few months.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
Yesterday I spoke to an elderly gentleman who was taking himself off to his local pharmacy to receive the RSV jab, but because he was over 80 he was going to pay more than £200 for it. Will the Minister please tell us how much the RSV jab costs the Department when it is free for 75 to 80-year-olds, and how much guidance or limitation it places on the profit that can be taken by chemists who give it to people who are over 80?
Oral Answers to Questions
Lincoln Jopp Excerpts(5 months, 1 week ago)
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Wes Streeting
We all know that general practice is under enormous pressure, and that will be a big part of this Government’s agenda. I reassure my hon. Friend that our view is that there should be patient choice, patient control and different courses for different horses. I value online and over-the-phone appointments, but they will not be right for everyone on every occasion. Patients should have a voice and a say.
Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)
Wes Streeting
I would say to GPs who are thinking about staffing for the next financial year that they should hold tight and wait for funding allocations shortly, so that they can make informed decisions about staffing and care for patients.