Oral Answers to Questions
Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts(2 weeks ago)
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Stephen Kinnock
There is a pattern here. The Conservatives welcome the additional investment in health and care but oppose the choices that we have made to raise the revenue. They need to tell us which services they would cut or which taxes they would raise instead.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
Coverage Care, a not-for-profit adult social care provider in North Shropshire that operates 11 care homes and employs around 1,000 local staff, has been in touch to say that it expects the impact of the increase in national insurance contributions to be £840,000 in the first full year of implementation. Given that there are huge numbers of vacancies across adult social care in North Shropshire, will the Secretary of State consider exempting social care providers from the national insurance increase? Otherwise we are putting money into social care with one hand and taking it away with the other.
Nesil Caliskan
I thank the Secretary of State for his answer on the critical issue of access to GPs in primary healthcare. My constituency of Barking is woefully under-served by primary healthcare, and especially by GPs. On average, each GP looks after 2,000 patients; the national average is 1,600. In particular, the area of Barking Riverside has no GP services. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss this matter, so that the thousands of homes that are being built will also have a primary healthcare facility on site?
Mr Speaker
Order. I remind Members to look towards the Chair, because I cannot hear what is being said. I call the Secretary of State—I hope he heard the question.
Wes Streeting
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would be delighted for my hon. Friend to meet me or the relevant Minister. The NHS has a statutory duty to ensure sufficient services in each local area, including general practice, and it is vital that we also take into account population growth and demographic changes. I strongly support the Deputy Prime Minister’s commitment to delivering 1.5 million new homes, and she and I know that that must be accompanied by local healthcare facilities. We are working together to achieve just that.
Wes Streeting
I am grateful to the hon. Member for that question. I am incredibly sorry about the awful conditions in which staff in that practice are having to see patients and in which the patients it serves are having to be seen—that is the epitome of the broken general practice system that we inherited. Thanks to the decisions taken by the Chancellor in the Budget, we are able to invest in the capital estate need in the NHS. That will take time, and we would be delighted to hear more about that individual case to see how the ICB and the NHS can assist.
Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD)
Following the theme raised by my hon. Friend and neighbour, the hon. Member for Bicester and Woodstock (Calum Miller), may I make a plea for Summertown health centre? They are my doctors, by the way, so I declare an interest. They operate in an old Victorian building and are desperate to move to new premises. That health centre was at the top of the priority list, but the ICB says that there is no money, and the doctors say that there is no pot that they can bid into in order to get this seen to. Will the Secretary of State meet me as well? Clearly, £102 million spread across 50 projects in the country is not going to be sufficient. Can we get creative about how we can get new premises built for Summertown health centre?
Wes Streeting
That was a rare admission of failure in this House by the SNP. I am very sorry to hear that general practice in Scotland is in such a sorry state, because here in England we are investing £889 million in general practice, the biggest uplift in years. That is in addition to the funding I have found to employ 1,000 more GPs on the frontline before April, because we are prioritising general practice. As for the decisions the Chancellor took in the Budget, as I said before the election, all roads lead to Westminster. Thanks to the decision a Labour Chancellor has made here in Westminster, coming down that road from Westminster to Holyrood are the resources the SNP Government need to deliver the priorities of the Scottish people. If they cannot, Anas Sarwar and Jackie Baillie stand ready to deliver.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
To improve access, the Government have announced a planned expansion of advice and guidance, and GPs will be paid £20 per advice and guidance request they make for further expert advice from consultants. How do the Government expect this expansion to take place? Will they be mandating it given that the current position of the British Medical Association, under its collective action, is that GPs should
“Stop engaging with the e-Referral Advice & Guidance pathway”?
Wes Streeting
First, as the shadow Minister has said, advice and guidance happens in general practice, and we want to see more of it. We have to give GPs the tools to do the job, and that is what we are doing. My hon. Friend the Minister for Care will be talking to the BMA shortly in the context of contract negotiations in the usual way. What the shadow Minister neglects to mention is that these reforms and improvements to general practice are made possible thanks to the £889 million we are putting in, which is investment that he and his party oppose.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
Dentistry is a key part of primary care, yet an estimated 5 million people in England have been left without an NHS dentist. That is why today a petition is being handed in at Downing Street signed by more than a quarter of a million people. We have moved on from the election, but we do not yet have a timetable for when the negotiations for a new NHS dental contract will begin and when another 700,000 extra urgent appointments will be rolled out. Can the Secretary of State confirm the timetable for those improvements? What specifically are the Government’s plans for the new patient premium, and will he offer assurances to dentists that any changes to the current model will be outlined in detail to them as soon as possible?
Wes Streeting
I thank the hon. Member for that question. I agree with him about the need for clarity as well as consistency. We undertook the review into the new hospital programme because the previous Government’s timetable was a work of fiction and the money was not there. I hope to report to him and to the House shortly on that, with the undertaking that the timetable we publish and the funding provided by the Chancellor in the Budget and at the spending review will mean that we will provide not just clarity but consistency, which is important for NHS leaders, important for patients and important for the construction industry partners we need to work with.
Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. [Interruption.] I am sorry—that is the last time I will get called. Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Yesterday, in relation to the elective backlog, the Secretary of State said:
“Where we can treat working people faster, we will, and we make no apology for doing so.”—[Official Report, 6 January 2025; Vol. 759, c. 597.]
Labour politicians have struggled to define what they mean by working people, but his words have caused anxiety. Will he reassure those with disabilities that prevent them from working and retired elderly people who have worked all their lives that they will not be pushed to the back of the queue and that treatment will continue to be provided in the NHS on the basis of clinical need?
Wes Streeting
Of course, clinical need is paramount and must always drive decision making about who to treat when and the order in which people are treated. That is why I find the question posed so deeply disingenuous. [Interruption.] We inherited NHS waiting lists at record levels and waiting times that are frankly shameful. The shadow Minister should be apologising for her party’s record, and she should also apologise for the two-tier healthcare system that sees those who can afford it paying to go private and those who cannot afford it—working-class people—being left behind. That is the two-tier system that the Government are determined to end.
Dr Johnson
The Secretary of State needs to be careful with the words he uses, as you said, Mr Speaker, because his words did cause anxiety among people. It was not a disingenuous question; it was a genuine question to make sure that people are reassured.
It will not have escaped the Secretary of State’s notice that it is cold outside. Removal of the winter fuel allowance has reduced elderly people’s ability to follow the advice that he gave last week, which was to turn the heating on. What assessment has he made of the number of additional admissions caused by his removal of the winter fuel allowance? What effect is that having on the Government’s ability to deliver their reduction in elective backlogs?
Wes Streeting
I am grateful to the hon. Member for that question. With our fair pay agreements, we will be bringing together government, public and private sector employers and staff trade unions to negotiate the future for fair pay agreements that will benefit care workers across the system and give them the professional status and career progression they deserve. The Chancellor, through the Budget, also took steps to ensure that we could invest in our social care services. I am deeply saddened that the Conservative party has not supported that investment.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Andrew Gwynne)
In September the Secretary of State and I met the families of people who had suffered harm following the covid-19 vaccination, including my hon. Friend’s constituent Sheila Ward, and they raised the need for reform of the vaccination damage scheme. We listened closely to their descriptions of what they had been through and agreed to look at a number of options, noting that cross-cutting Government decisions might be necessary. We are also working with the NHS Business Services Authority to improve claimants’ experiences of the scheme, and to ensure that claims are processed quickly.
Mr Speaker
Order. May I remind Members not to walk past when the Minister is replying to a question? Please have regard for each other; this sets a bad example.
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)
The Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday of his elective recovery plan mirrored that of Sir Saijd Javid in 2022, but one aspect was different. Our plan explicitly recognised the importance of the workforce being in place to deliver the 9 million extra tests and interpret the results, and it set out proposals to increase that workforce further. What plans has the Secretary of State to boost the workforce in community diagnostic centres specifically, over and above the plans that he inherited from us, to ensure that his elective recovery plan is deliverable?
Wes Streeting
The shadow Secretary of State is right to say that we need staff in place to do the job. The additional funding announced by the Chancellor in the Budget is central to the delivery of this plan—I note that he opposes that funding, which is deeply regrettable—but we need to improve productivity as well. That is why the plan sets out steps to free up patient appointments that are unnecessary or of low clinical value, but, crucially, staff time in productivity gains is also important, so as well as making the most of the additional investment, we are making the most of delivering value for taxpayers’ money—
Mr Speaker
Order. Please help me a little bit. You have had a good run today—don’t spoil it.
Tristan Osborne (Chatham and Aylesford) (Lab)
The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)
We are making a priority of resuming consultations with the sector to stabilise community pharmacy. Pharmacy First has built on existing services to increase the clinical scope. The conditions treated under Pharmacy First vary across the UK, and the NHS will keep this under review.
Wes Streeting
The hon. Member is right to raise cases where there are multiple comorbidities or complex conditions requiring a range of care services. That is why we need to design services around the patient, not expect patients to contort themselves around the services. Our approach to neighbourhood health services should make a real difference in that regard, but we have to go further and faster on health and care integration, and we absolutely will.
Kevin McKenna (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Lab)
I strongly welcome yesterday’s announcement about using initiatives such as community diagnostic centres to move services closer to the public. In the Isle of Sheppey, we are particularly exposed as a coastal community, but thankfully a new CDC will really help. Unfortunately, my experience in the NHS over the past few years shows that while the previous Government talked the talk about shifting care to the community, they failed to deliver. Will the Secretary of State set out what steps will be taken, so I can show my constituents that this shift will actually happen?
Health and Adult Social Care Reform
Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts(2 weeks, 1 day ago)
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Mr Speaker
We now come to the first statement. I am sure there must be something left to say.
Wes Streeting
My hon. Friend is absolutely rightly. The Employment Rights Bill, introduced in our first 100 days, contains provisions for a new fair pay agreement for care workers, and who better to be leading the charge on that than the care worker turned Deputy Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner).
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
I add my thanks to those of the Secretary of State and the shadow Secretary of State to all those who worked in our health and care services over Christmas and the new year.
Our health and social care system is in crisis, so the Liberal Democrats are broadly supportive of the measures that the Government have announced today. However, we do have some concerns, not least that action on social care may arrive too late and that the focus on elective care may come at the expense of emergency care. The Liberal Democrats have long called for cross-party talks on social care, so we are glad that the Government have listened and we look forward to working constructively with the Secretary of State and other UK-wide parties as the review develops. However, carers, care providers and councils are on the brink of bankruptcy and they need solutions right now, not in three years’ time. There have been many such reviews, and what is needed now is action on the recommendations they have made.
It is absolutely crucial that waiting times for elective care are cut radically, so the action announced today to speed up scans and treatment is very positive. A waiting list of more than 6 million people is one of the worst legacies left by the Conservatives, but those legacies include overcrowded A&Es and unacceptable ambulance delays, which can mean the difference between life and death, as people in North Shropshire know only too well. Emergency care is under immense pressure at the moment—one visit to Shrewsbury hospital demonstrates that—and we need bold action if we are to ensure that this is the last ever winter crisis.
As the MP for a rural area, I hear every week from constituents suffering because of the crisis, so they will be following today’s developments closely. Many of my constituents are elderly—far more than average—and they are the people most likely to need the NHS and the most likely to be digitally excluded. According to Age UK, around 29% of people aged 75 and over do not use the internet, and around a third do not have a smartphone. They deserve as much choice and control as everybody else, so can the Secretary of State outline how those without access to the NHS app will be able to benefit from the same options and information as those who do have access?
Will the Secretary of State consider fast-tracking the social care review so that the sector can get the urgent attention it needs? Will he commit to rescuing our emergency services by supporting Liberal Democrat calls to make the NHS winter-proof with a new winter taskforce that builds resilience in hospital wards, A&E departments and patient discharging? Finally, will he define what a working-class area is, because the health and care crisis is acute in rural Britain and we cannot afford to be left behind?
Several hon. Members rose—
Mr Speaker
May I suggest that we help each other by asking short questions—with short, punchy answers, I am sure? Ben Coleman will set a good example.
Ben Coleman (Chelsea and Fulham) (Lab)
Mr Speaker, I take that personally, in a positive way.
This is a very encouraging statement. It is great to start the new year with some good news and to be so clear that we are keeping our promises as a Government. It is also very good that we are taking the necessary time to create this cross-party consensus on social care while keeping the show so firmly on the road. Carers will be supported to carry out more health tasks, as they do already in my constituency with wound dressing and medicine management. The problem is they do not have any possibility of career progression. [Interruption.] I am sorry, Mr Speaker, I forgot your initial encouragement; I will bring this to a close.
Does the Secretary of State agree that as carers are encouraged to do more health tasks, they need proper opportunities for career progression even within the NHS, in collaboration with local authorities?
Wes Streeting
Brevity was not my hon. Friend’s new year’s resolution, but at your encouraging, Mr Speaker, it is mine. We will provide more training to care professionals to deliver a wider range of tasks in the home, making better use of their skills and the career progression that my hon. Friend describes. Crucially, that career progression must be in status and in pay. That is what we will work with the staff to deliver.
Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)
I welcome the consensual parts of the Secretary of State’s statement, but I wonder whether we have been entirely honest with the public about the sheer unaffordability of the cap proposed by Dilnot. I do not absolve my own Government from this: maybe we should start telling the truth to the public. Does the Secretary of State think we need a new social compact on bringing in social insurance so that people can plan for their entire life? They would know that they will have to pay more in taxes during their life for their old age, but at least they would have certain rights.
Wes Streeting
I strongly agree with my hon. Friend, who has done much already in the past six months to champion social care. Whether people are in residential care home settings or we are doing everything we can to ensure that they can stay in their own homes, everyone deserves to live comfortably, well supported, with independence and with dignity. That is why the steps we are taking, particularly through the disabled facilities grant, will be immediately impactful on thousands of people across the country in just the next three months. We have so much more to do, and that is why I am genuinely excited by the work of the commission.
Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD)
Given that the Health and Social Care Committee’s first inquiry is “Adult social care reform: the cost of inaction”, we welcome any action. As the name of the inquiry suggests, we are concerned about the length of time taken, because every year without reform costs money, not only to the NHS, but to the wider economy and in people’s lives. We have Andrew Dilnot in front of us on Wednesday, and it is 14 years since his report, which has been put into legislation twice. I ask the Secretary of State to be specific: what will stop the next iteration of the Committee having Louise Casey in front of it in 15 years’ time? What will be different this time, so that we get that cross-party consensus and it sticks?
Several hon. Members rose—
Mr Speaker
We are going to finish at about 10 to 5, so the speedier we go, the more that will help.
Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)
I thank NHS staff for working under severe duress over this winter. One way of ensuring better patient flows is to have better rehabilitation, so will my right hon. Friend say what he is doing to improve rehabilitation access not only in acute sectors but out in the community?
Hospice Funding
Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Mr Speaker
Order. I think you might find that I granted the urgent question, but don’t worry, Minister. I call the shadow Minister.
Dr Caroline Johnson
After the confusion of yesterday, I welcome the fact that further details on hospice funding have been announced, albeit by our dragging them out of the Government on the very last day of Parliament before the recess.
On 30 October, the Chancellor decided to break her election promise by increasing employers national insurance contributions and reducing the threshold at which employer contributions are payable. It was later confirmed that hospices would not be exempt from the increase in costs. Now the Government have announced new funding for the sector, which they have the audacity to call
“the biggest investment in a generation”.
Let us be clear about what is going on: the Government are taking millions of pounds off hospices and palliative care charities, and then think those hospices and palliative care charities should be grateful when the Government give them some of that back. That is socialism at its finest.
We will look more closely at the funding announced today, but despite many questions from right hon. and hon. Members, to date the Government have refused to give any clear answers on how much their tax rises will cost hospices. I will try again: will the Minister please tell us how much the Government estimate they will raise from taxing hospices more? Was an impact assessment ever produced on how hospices will be hit, and how that will affect the care that they provide? Do the Government expect the funding that they have announced today to cover the additional costs in their entirety?
At the heart of this discussion are charities that provide compassionate care to terminally ill people in their final days, weeks and months. While hospices were left without information, Hospice UK reported that 300 beds have already closed, with many more closures to come. Does the Minister accept any responsibility for that? Ultimately, it is patients who will pay the price.
While we welcome this update for hospices, when will the Health Secretary come forward with more details on the many other health providers who have been hit by Labour’s tax increases, including GPs, community pharmacies and dentists? Will they be expected to be similarly grateful for getting back some of the money that the Government have taken from them?
Karin Smyth
My hon. Friend makes an important point about the need for more people to be treated at home. That is absolutely the direction of travel that we want to see. This money will help, for example, with technology to support more people to be treated at home. ICBs are responsible for commissioning and allocating funding, so that will be done in the normal way.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
I wish you and the whole team a very merry Christmas, Mr Speaker.
Last week, I visited Hope House in my constituency, where I met beautiful young Esmay, one of hundreds of children cared for by the hospice every single year. She is nearly three and has a life-threatening heart condition. Esmay’s family do not know what the future holds for her, but they know that Hope House will be there to support them, as it has since before she was born.
There are 300,000 people like Esmay treated in hospices every year, and just one third of their funding comes from the NHS. That leaves institutions such as Hope House and nearby Severn hospice reliant on generosity and unable to plan as they wait for confirmation of the funding they will receive from the NHS. That situation has been made more difficult this year because of the increase to national insurance contributions, which Hope House estimates will cost £177,000.
Funding is welcome, and I welcome the Minister’s commitment today. Will she explain whether the increase that she has announced today will cover the NIC hike for hospices and the increase in the living wage that was announced at the Budget? Will she also commit to providing future settlements in a timely manner so that hospice managers can budget effectively for the coming year?
Karin Smyth
The hon. Member makes an excellent point about carers and their support. We made announcements about that in the Budget, and we will make more general announcements about allocations in the new year.
Mr Speaker
May I gently say that I know you welcome being here, Minister, but it would have been easier if the announcement had come as a statement rather than through having to grant an urgent question? When Ministers are going out—quite rightly—to visit hospices, we should be told at the same time. It would be nicer and easier for us all to do it that way, but I thank the Minister for coming.
I would also say to all of us that our hospices matter. In the case of those hospices that serve my constituency—the children’s hospice of Derian House and St Catherine’s— I wish them all the best for Christmas. I thank all hospices for the duty they carry out on behalf of our constituents.
Oral Answers to Questions
Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts(2 months ago)
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Wes Streeting
General practice is a valued part of the NHS, and GPs are a vital part of our NHS family. In fact, they are delivering more appointments than ever before, and we recognise the significant pressures they face. At the same time, we know that patients are struggling to see their GP, which is why we have invested an additional £82 million into the ARRS to recruit 1,000 more newly qualified GPs this year. This will take pressure off general practice, and we will be announcing further budget allocations in the not-too-distant future to set out what further support we will provide for general practice.
Wes Streeting
The hon. Gentleman is right. Last weekend, I was up in Middlesbrough with local Members, where we saw a great example of hospital at home delivered by the community nursing team and the community health trust. We have to do a lot more in that space to ensure we provide care closer to peoples’ homes—indeed, often in the home—keeping them out of hospital and close to home, which is better for them and better value for the taxpayer.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
The Royal College of General Practitioners has said the national insurance tax increase is expected to cost 2.2 million appointments. We know from answers to written questions that have been submitted that GPs, hospices and care homes are not exempt from the increases, and will not find out until April what, if any, mitigation will be put in place, so cutbacks are now being planned. Will the Secretary of State explain how his choice to tax GPs will increase GP access?
Wes Streeting
Again, we have not yet announced how we are allocating the budget for the year ahead, but I remind the Conservatives that it is thanks to the choices the Chancellor made in her Budget that she is able to invest £26 billion in health and social care. Would they cut the £26 billion this Labour Government are investing in the NHS? If not, how would they pay for it? Welcome to opposition.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
Hospices provide essential care for people at the most difficult point of their life, and they are usually only partially funded by the NHS. Hospice UK says that real-terms funding has fallen by £47 million since 2022, and hospices are struggling with this hike in national insurance contributions. Hope House children’s hospice in North Shropshire estimates that it will cost £178,000. Will the Secretary of State commit to either exempting hospices from the NICs increase or ensure that they are funded to cover those additional costs?
Wes Streeting
I am grateful to the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for her question. I pay tribute to the children’s hospice in her constituency and, indeed, to Haven House children’s hospice, which serves my constituency.
Wes Streeting
And indeed your very own local hospice, Mr Speaker—I am sure that will appear on the record. I am particularly thankful for the advocacy we have received from Hospice UK and charities such as Together for Short Lives and others that are making their voices heard about the pressures on the system. I say to all hospices across the country that I am taking those pressures into account before deciding allocations for the year ahead, because I want to ensure that everyone, whatever their age, receives access to the timely and good-quality end of life care, palliative care and, of course, support for people with life-limiting conditions that all of them deserve.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)
Before the election, we made it clear that investment and reform were needed in the NHS. The Chancellor announced the investment in the Budget, and since the general election we have confirmed the introduction of new league tables of NHS providers, with high-performing providers being given greater freedom over funding and flexibility. We are sending turnaround teams into struggling hospitals, giving the best performers greater freedoms over funding to modernise technology and equipment. We are creating a new college of executive and clinical leadership that will help to attract, keep and support the best NHS leaders. We are banning NHS trusts from using agencies to hire temporary entry-level workers in bands 2 and 3, such as healthcare assistants and domestic support workers. We are sending crack teams of top clinicians to areas with long waiting lists and high economic inactivity to improve the productivity of their clinics, and we are running a GP red tape challenge to slash bureaucracy. I could go on, because this is a Government who are walking the talk on NHS reform.
Tristan Osborne
I wish my right hon. Friend would go on. Irresponsible promises were made by the Opposition about capital investment in hospitals and elective surgeries across the country, including in the three Medway constituencies. Will my right hon. Friend meet me and my hon. Friends the Members for Rochester and Strood (Lauren Edwards) and for Gillingham and Rainham (Naushabah Khan) to discuss the much-needed NHS investment in our area?
Wes Streeting
I know, not least because of the mismanagement of the NHS during the last 14 years, that communities right across the country, including the hon. Gentleman’s constituents in Solihull, are struggling with poor services and crumbling estates. We would be happy to receive representations from him, but he has to level with his constituents. If he wants money to be spent in his community, he must support the investment and be honest about the fact that he supports the means of raising it. If he does not support the means of raising it, he should tell us where that investment would come from.
Mr Speaker
We have been very slow to get to topicals, so let us see if we can speed it up. Dan Tomlinson will set a good example.
Dan Tomlinson (Chipping Barnet) (Lab)
Wes Streeting
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. The Royal Free hospital saved my life when I went through kidney cancer, so it holds a special place in my heart. Thanks to the Chancellor’s decision and the investment she put into the NHS at the Budget, and the reform my Department is delivering, we will deliver the change and improvement that his constituents and mine, and the rest of the country, deserve.
Edward Argar (Melton and Syston) (Con)
The Secretary of State knows that every year, irrespective of which party is in government, winter is challenging for the NHS. Possibly, it will be all the more so this year with the potential impact on older people’s health of the loss of the winter fuel allowance by many. What winter preparedness steps has he taken, like previous Governments, to increase A&E capacity and to increase the number of beds this winter, and can he say by how many?
The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)
The Department has been working with suppliers of medicines used to treat ADHD to seek commitments from them to address the issues, expedite deliveries and boost supplies. We are working with NHS England to approve the modelling for industry and communications regarding ADHD medicine supply issues. We will continue to engage with industry to address the remaining issues as quickly as possible.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
The Conservatives’ disastrous legacy on dentistry means that more than 4.4 million children have not seen a dentist in the past year. In Shropshire, dentists continue to hand back their contracts, including one in Wem in recent weeks. Will the Minister outline his plan to reverse that terrible decline and ensure that the issue is addressed in rural areas where there are dental deserts?
National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare
Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts(2 months, 1 week ago)
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Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)
The increase in employer national insurance contributions will erode the very investment in the NHS that the Budget sought to prioritise. Katie, a GP from Lindfield in Mid Sussex, wrote to me saying that the NICs increases
“serve to directly undermine access and patient care.”
The Government have promised to recruit more GPs, but hiking national insurance puts that pledge in jeopardy. Surgeries are set to see eye-watering increases in staff costs, equivalent to 26,786 appointments in West Sussex alone. GPs will have no choice but to cut services and staff numbers, and patients will pay the price.
Does the Minister agree that stronger primary care, with faster appointments and fewer people having to go to hospital, is better for both the NHS and patients? If so, will she protect services and press the Chancellor to end this GP penalty?
Karin Smyth
I respect my hon. Friend’s expertise in this area. She is right, and we understand that the pressures are real, which is why we have committed to supporting the NHS and the social care system with the additional funding that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care secured as part of the Budget settlement.
We are also working closely with the NHS, in a new relationship, to understand its needs. That is a dynamic conversation, because we want to understand what is happening in local systems as we continue to invest in them.
Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)
We all know that a lot of the debate on assisted dying revolves around the lack of hospice places to help people pass in the best way possible. Similarly, much of the debate on the NHS is about the lack of care home spaces. Leaving aside the cross-party name-calling, may I beg the Minister to consider exempting hospices and care homes from this national insurance increase?
Mr Speaker
Order! The shadow Minister has been granted an urgent question. He asks the questions; he does not answer them from the Front Bench.
Karl Turner
Does the Minister agree that it is also disappointing that the Opposition ignore the fact that they completely disregarded and ignored social care when they were in office?
Karin Smyth
Well, I do agree with my hon. Friend. As I have said, when I became a Member of Parliament in 2015, I remember very clearly the absolute shock that I felt when the Conservatives immediately announced that they were not going to meet the commitment that they had made to implement the Care Act 2014 at that time, and we are still playing catch-up on that issue.
Oral Answers to Questions
Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts(3 months ago)
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Stephen Kinnock
That is an extremely important question. I recognise that dementia is a huge issue that impacts on the entire country and, indeed, many Members on both sides of the House. We are absolutely committed to the research that is fundamental to addressing the problem, and our fair pay agreement is about not just pay but training and terms and conditions. We will be ramping up dementia training for our adult social care workforce.
Sir John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)
The Labour manifesto spoke of the need for a consensus on social care, and the Secretary of State has said that he wants to reach out across the political divide—although the message does not seem quite to have reached the Minister yet. During Health and Social Care questions in July, the Minister said that there would be announcements in the near future, but since then we have heard nothing. We are ready to talk; when will the Government be ready?
Wes Streeting
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that question. When in opposition, I was delighted to spend time with a whole group of GPs from across Sheffield who showed us what primary care reform could look like. We are committed to increasing primary care as a proportion of the NHS’s budget, which will be important, and also to building exactly the kind of neighbourhood health service she describes, with more care closer to people’s homes. General practice has a key role to play in that.
Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD)
What we measure is often what we end up improving, and one of the great assets of Lord Darzi’s report is the technical annex with its 330 analyses. It is incredibly useful; it is a baseline. Will the Secretary of State make sure that it is updated yearly?
Wes Streeting
That is a great constructive challenge. I am absolutely committed to transparency and to keeping that dataset updated in the way that the hon. Lady requests. We are not going to get everything right and sometimes we are not going to make progress as fast as we would like, but where that is the case we are never going to duck it or pretend that things are better than they are. The reason that we will succeed where the previous Government failed is that we are willing to face up to the challenges in the NHS rather than pretend that they do not exist.
Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)
The Prime Minister has repeatedly stressed the importance of preventing people from taking up smoking, as one of his priorities to improve the nation’s health, reduce waiting lists and lessen demand on the NHS, and we agree. The Government like to talk about the record of their first 100 days in office but, according to data from Action on Smoking and Health, 280 children under the age of 16 take up smoking in England each day. That is 28,000 children in England during the Secretary of State’s first 100 days. Why has he not yet reintroduced our Tobacco and Vapes Bill? How many children need to take up smoking before he makes this a priority?
Wes Streeting
Perhaps the shadow Minister would like to give us the figures for the entire 14 years that his party was in government. By the way, just to set the record straight, not only did I propose the measures in that Bill during an interview with The Times earlier last year, but if it was such a priority for the Opposition, why did they leave the Bill unfinished? Why had it only had its Second Reading? And why did we go into the general election with that Bill unpassed? I will tell him why: because his party was divided on the issue, and the then Prime Minister was too weak to stand up to his own right-wingers who are now calling the shots in his party. The smoking Bill will be back, it will be stronger and, unlike the previous Government, we will deliver it.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
My constituent Mel Lycett has terminal cancer. After repeated visits to her GP, she was referred to a two-week urgent pathway in May. She was not diagnosed until the end of July, and she still has not started treatment. Every single target for her diagnosis and treatment was missed. That is not uncommon in Shropshire, and it is not uncommon in the rest of the country. Can the Secretary of State reassure me of what he is doing to deal with this terrible legacy left behind by the Conservative Government? How will he ensure that cancer patients are treated in a timely manner?
Seamus Logan (Aberdeenshire North and Moray East) (SNP)
I appreciate that the Secretary of State is unlikely to comment on the Chancellor’s forthcoming statement, but he and his Front-Bench colleagues have already mentioned funding issues a number of times this morning, so will he confirm that it is the policy of his Government to take steps to increase the UK’s health spending to the average of other countries in north-west Europe? That would lead to an increase of around £17 billion for the national health service and would help address some of the issues referred to by the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter).
Mr Speaker
Order. Questions ought to be linked to the subject being dealt with, which is access to primary care. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman meant to ask, “Will there also be funding to improve access to primary care?”, which I am sure the Minister can answer.
Andrew Gwynne
This Labour Government were elected to tackle health inequalities, fix our NHS and ensure that more people live longer, healthier lives. That will require a concerted Government effort, which is why we have the health mission board in place. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is making the case for investment and reform at every opportunity, but let us be clear: every single Labour Government have left the country with a better NHS than they inherited, and this Labour Government will fix our NHS once more.
Wes Streeting
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. This is about not just the necessary hospital projects, but the growth that will come through construction, getting these projects up and running and, of course, the role that the NHS plays as an economic anchor institution in communities, as some of these projects will necessarily unlock new housing sites and a local transport infrastructure. We are mindful of all of that. The most important thing is that we come forward with a timetable that is credible and a programme that is funded, and that is exactly what we will do.
Michelle Scrogham (Barrow and Furness) (Lab)
Wes Streeting
I am sorry for my hon. Friend’s constituents, and so many others who are dealing with the consequences of the Conservatives’ failure on dentistry. I would be delighted to meet him to discuss the challenges in his area.
Victoria Atkins (Louth and Horncastle) (Con)
I congratulate all nominees and winners in the NHS parliamentary awards yesterday. Their success was richly deserved, and the awards were a very good example of the House coming together to celebrate those who work so hard in our health service and social care services.
In the past five weeks, I have asked the Secretary of State 29 questions at this Dispatch Box, yet he has managed to answer only one. For the rest, he has tried to bluster his way out of his policy decisions, as we have seen this morning. Let us try again. When will be the first week in which we see delivery of his promised 40,000 more appointments?
Victoria Atkins
After 14 years of opposition—two and a half of which the Secretary of State spent on the Front Bench and travelling around the world, funded by other Governments, to look at their healthcare systems—and more than 100 days in government, the right hon. Gentleman does not even know the start date of his own flagship policy. He is no Action Man; he is Anchorman.
Let us deal with Labour’s cruel decision to slash winter fuel payments, which will add pressure not only to patients, but to the NHS. The NHS’s deputy chief operating officer—
Mr Speaker
Order. I have got a lot of people to get in. Members on both Front Benches must be quicker.
Victoria Atkins
After Labour’s cruel decision to slash winter fuel payments, which will add pressure to the NHS, its deputy chief operating officer warned that this winter our health service will not have the extra capacity or funding that it needs, which the Conservatives had previously provided. Why has the Secretary of State—
Mr Speaker
Order. I gave the right hon. Lady a hint to come to an end and not to carry on fully. It is unfair to Back Benchers, who I am trying to represent. I want a short answer.
Wes Streeting
The shadow Secretary of State questions the budget for this winter, but it was set by her Government. Is that finally an admission of failure on her part? Something else that we will have this winter, which we did not have last winter or the previous winter is no—
Lola McEvoy (Darlington) (Lab)
The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)
By cutting mental health waiting lists and intervening earlier, we can get this country back to health and back to work. There are 2.9 million people who are economically inactive, a large proportion owing to mental health issues. Many people can be helped back into work through talking therapies. We will put a mental health professional in every school and roll out 8,500 specialists. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the matter further.
NHS: Independent Investigation
Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts(4 months, 1 week ago)
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Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker
How long has the hon. Member been here? Points of order come at the end—you cannot intervene in the middle of these proceedings.
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Victoria Atkins (Louth and Horncastle) (Con)
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Secretary of State for advance notice of his statement.
The NHS belongs to us all, and we all care about it, so let us stop the political posturing and talk constructively about its future. We all know that our healthcare system faces significant pressures, as do all health systems around the world. We are living longer, and with multiple and complex conditions. We have wider societal pressures, such as the impact of social media on the development of some young minds, as well as the cost pressures of miracle drugs developed by our world-class life sciences sector for their treatment benefits, and the shock of the pandemic has had catastrophic impacts on the NHS and its productivity.
I believe there is much to be proud of in the NHS. Its dedicated staff look after 1.6 million people a day— 25% more people than in 2010. It has more doctors, more nurses and more investment that at any point in its history. It is delivering tens of millions more out-patient appointments, diagnostic tests and procedures for patients than in 2010, and we delivered the fastest roll-out of vaccinations for covid in the world, freeing our society more quickly than other countries. We have more healthcare in the community, with the opening of 160 community diagnostic centres—the largest central cash investment in MRI and CT scanning capacity in the history of the NHS—and 15 new surgical hubs; and the launch of Pharmacy First, helping to free up 10 million GP appointments for those living with more complex conditions. [Interruption.] I say to the Secretary of State that I paid him the courtesy of listening to him in silence, so I hope he will do the same for me.
Victoria Atkins
The right hon. Gentleman was chuntering from a sedentary position. We on the—[Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. I want to hear the right hon. Lady, and Members’ constituents want to know what is being said. Please, let us give the same courtesies that I expected for the Secretary of State.
Victoria Atkins
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
We on the Conservative Benches never pretended that everything was fixed. We have not pretended that we have a monopoly on wisdom or that there are easy answers to the difficult challenges we face. For the NHS to thrive in its next 75 years, it needs to reform, modernise and improve productivity. That is why the Conservative Government, working with NHS England, announced the NHS productivity plan at the spring Budget to transform how the NHS works through better IT systems for frontline staff, the expansion of services on the NHS app, which is used by three out of four adults in England, and the use of new technology, including voice-activated artificial intelligence. Together, that would see productivity grow by 2% a year by the end of the decade and unlock £35 billion-worth of savings, yet the plan is not mentioned in the 163-page report. Why is such an important and forward-looking reform missing from the report, and can the right hon. Gentleman confirm that he is choosing to cancel it—yes or no?
New medicines and trials are an essential part of the productivity challenge. There is only one mention of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the 163-page report. Do the Government have a strategy for life sciences and the provision of rare medicines, including cancer and dementia drugs? Why have they paused the childhood cancer taskforce?
The need for reform was also why we implemented the first ever long-term workforce plan with NHS England to train even more doctors, nurses, midwives and other healthcare staff for the future. The plan was described by the NHS CEO Amanda Pritchard as
“one of the most seminal moments in our 75-year history”,
yet it is not mentioned in today’s report. Again, why is such an important and forward-looking reform missing from the report? Is the right hon. Gentleman going to cancel the new places and forms of training, including apprenticeships, that were to be provided through that plan?
The need to modernise is why, in 2019, we announced the largest programme of hospital building in modern history: 40 new hospitals across England by 2030 [Interruption.] I would be careful if I were some Back-Bench MPs. Today, seven new hospitals have opened, the Midland Metropolitan university hospital will open at the end of the year—I imagine the Secretary of State will enjoy going to its launch—and a further 18 are in construction. We are not even halfway through the decade.
Since January 2023, it has been Labour’s plan to pause, review, delay and, presumably, possibly cancel those new hospitals. That was when it published its health mission; it is on page 6 for those who have not read it. In other words, it was always Labour’s plan to delay and possibly cancel the new hospitals, and it has nothing to do with the Chancellor’s questionable accounting since the general election.
When that was pointed out in the general election campaign, Labour candidates ran around promising voters that their new hospital or community diagnostic centre was safe with them—in Torbay, Chelsea and Fulham, Basingstoke, Watford, Bracknell, Truro, Corby and Kettering to name a few. Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that Labour will delay those hospitals?
Mr Speaker
Order. It is difficult, but the time limit is supposed to be five minutes, and it has now been six minutes 22 seconds, so we are well over. Can you now conclude on that sentence?
Victoria Atkins
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
There is one part of Great Britain where, on almost every measure, the NHS performs the worst: Labour-run Wales. The right hon. Gentleman has compared—
Mr Speaker
Order. I am sorry; I meant that you were to conclude now, not to continue with the rest of the speech. I call the Secretary of State.
Wes Streeting
The first word that the shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care should have said was “sorry”. She says that she never pretended everything was fixed, and that is true, but it is about time that she admitted that it was her party that broke the NHS in the first place.
In fact, it has been a feature of debate in the House since the general election that the Opposition have taken absolutely no responsibility for the mess they left our country in, including a £22 billion black hole and the new hospitals programme that the right hon. Lady referred to, in which the timetables were a work of fiction and the money ran out in March. She knew that when she went to the country to claim that the programme was fully funded. She talks about the decisions made by NICE; that was a new Labour reform and modernisation—one that thankfully survived the last 14 years.
The right hon. Lady has endorsed the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick) in the Conservative party leadership election. I wonder what she makes of his admission that the Conservatives failed to make the tough reforms that the NHS needed because they were afraid of what Labour might say. Is that not the most derisory excuse for 14 years of neglect?
My predecessor does not bear responsibility for everything in the Darzi report—this crisis was more than a decade in the making—but I wonder when the right hon. Lady will show some humility on behalf of her party and apologise for the mess that her Government made of our national health service. Otherwise, why should anyone trust what the Conservatives have to say ever again?
This Government were given a mandate for change, and nowhere is that more needed than in our NHS. The report must mark the beginning of the long, hard work of change. It is the platform from which we will launch a decade of reform that will make sure that the NHS can be there for us when we need it—for us, our children and our grandchildren. It must draw a line in the sand, so that we never go back to the pain, fear and misery that the Conservative party inflicted on millions of patients.
Several hon. Members rose—
Mr Speaker
This statement will run for an hour, so please help each other. Let us try Clive Efford as a good example.
Clive Efford (Eltham and Chislehurst) (Lab)
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will rise to the challenge.
I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. In 2008, the previous Labour Government commissioned a report from Sir Michael Marmot on the state of society and health, and he found that there was health inequality, particularly in deprived areas. Ten years on, his second report found that health inequality had become even worse against the backdrop of an underfunded NHS. Does that not demonstrate the urgency of the need to invest in those communities under this Government? What can my right hon. Friend do to direct resources into the most deprived communities in order to turn around those health inequalities?
Wes Streeting
My hon. Friend is absolutely right that our country has stark health inequalities. It is not right that people who live in different parts of the country have such different chances of living well. A girl born in Blackpool can expect to live healthily until she is 54, whereas a girl born in Winchester can expect to live healthily until she is 66. That is why, with the Prime Minister’s mission-driven approach, we will not just get our NHS back on its feet and make sure it is fit for the future; we will also reduce the cost and burden of demand on our national health service by attacking the social determinants of ill health.
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)
Much of the content of Lord Darzi’s report has been known for some years. None the less, today’s report is a scathing summary of the complete devastation that the Conservatives have wrought on our health services and on the health of our communities. We Liberal Democrats have long argued that we need to shift healthcare from hospitals to high streets, and from treatment to prevention, because doing so improves health outcomes and saves taxpayers’ money. It is a win-win.
But the report is long on diagnosis and short on prescription, so may I invite Ministers to read our fully costed manifesto to fix public health and primary care by recruiting 8,000 GPs, ending dental deserts, boosting public health grants by £1 million, implementing our five-year plan to boost cancer survival rates, and putting a mental health expert in every school?
Does the Secretary of State accept that there is an elephant in the room: social care? Will he meet me to discuss the Liberal Democrat plans for social care, starting with free personal care? This bold idea would prevent many people from going into hospital in the first place, as well as enabling them to be discharged from hospital faster. Does he accept that it is a truth universally acknowledged that we cannot fix the NHS if we do not fix social care too?
As for the dire state of our hospitals and primary care estate, well, the Conservatives have left it to fester like a wound. Will the Secretary of State give the green light to hospitals that are ready to rebuild, such as mine in west Hertfordshire? Will Ministers look to reform outdated Treasury rules that are preventing our integrated care boards and hospital trusts from spending and investing their funds in the GP practices and hospitals that we need? This Government say that they want growth. Well, health and wealth are two sides of the same coin, which is something the Conservatives do not understand. If Labour wants economic growth, fixing our health and social care must be its top priority. And it must be a priority without delay.
Oral Answers to Questions
Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts(5 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Wes Streeting
I welcome the hon. Member to the House—it is a rare thing to welcome new Conservative Members, and he is welcome. He is absolutely right to touch on the workforce issues in NHS dentistry, and to say that we need to incentivise dentists, on two fronts: we need them to commit to and do more work in the NHS—we are looking at a range of things in that regard—and we need to ensure that we get more dentists to the areas in which they are most needed. We will certainly support incentives to that effect.
Saqib Bhatti (Meriden and Solihull East) (Con)
I welcome the right hon. Member and his new team to their places in the Department. The shadow Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins), prioritised access to care, including NHS dentistry, when she was Secretary of State. The dental recovery plan that she launched announced new dental vans to provide access to care to our most rural communities and coastal communities in England. We had agreed with NHS England that the first vans would be on the road by this autumn, and I know that that timescale was welcomed by colleagues across the House. Will he confirm that dental vans will be on the road by this autumn?
Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)
May I congratulate those on the Government Front Bench on their appointments? I should declare that I am a former NHS consultant psychiatrist, my wife is an NHS doctor and I participated in the Wessely Mental Health Act review. While I no longer have a licence to practise, I may gently correct the Minister in that it is possible to provide a prescription without a diagnosis. [Laughter.]
The Opposition are pleased that the Government intend to build on the work of Conservative Governments, kick-started by the former Member for Maidenhead, to reform the Mental Health Act 1983. We will work constructively with them to make such legislation as effective, fair and compassionate as possible. With that in mind, does the Minister intend to make changes to the code of practice to the Mental Health Act now so that non-statutory changes and protections can be enacted while the Bill works its way through Parliament?
Cat Smith
Lancaster’s royal infirmary is at capacity. It is a Victorian hospital, and I am sure it was cutting-edge back then, but it is now not fit for purpose. Yesterday, the joint investment strategic committee expressed its support for the new build scheme in Lancaster, so it will soon be on the Secretary of State’s desk. Will my right hon. Friend commit to meeting me and other interested local MPs in north Lancashire to ensure that, after 14 years of chaos under the Conservatives, the Labour Government will deliver a new hospital for Lancaster?
Wes Streeting
I was about to say, Mr Speaker, that the good people of Lancaster and Wyre will be delighted to have sent my hon. Friend to Parliament, because she is second only to you in collaring me about a local hospital project—you are the holder of that record. There is a serious point: thanks to her determined efforts to collar me around the parliamentary estate, I know the particular urgency around land. A scheme will be put to me shortly, which I will consider carefully, and I will look at the programme in the round and ensure that I am able to come back to this House and to the country with promises that we can keep and that the country can afford.
Wes Streeting
Hospitals with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete are at the top of my list of priorities. I am extremely concerned about the dire state of the NHS estate. Once again, I think that is a bit rich from Opposition Members, whose party was in government only weeks ago. They had a Prime Minister local to that hospital, and they did not do anything when they had the chance, but they should not worry—we will clean up their mess.
Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)
I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his position. I should declare that I have been working in the NHS for 23 years, currently as an NHS consultant paediatrician. I look forward to using that experience in my new role as shadow Minister of State to scrutinise the Government constructively.
Under the new hospital programme, the previous Government had already opened six hospitals to patients, with two more due to open this financial year and 18 under construction. The Government are now putting that at risk by launching a review of that work, delaying those projects, which are vital to patients across the country. Could the right hon. Member please confirm when the review will be completed?
Wes Streeting
First, I welcome the hon. Lady to her new post. I must say I preferred her much more as a Back-Bench rebel than a Front-Bench spokesperson, but I have enormous respect for her years of contribution to the NHS and the experience that she brings to this House. I always take her seriously.
However, on this one, once again I say to the Opposition that they handed over an entirely fictional timetable and an unfunded programme. The hon. Lady might not know because she was not there immediately prior to the election, but the shadow Secretary of State, who is sitting right next to her, knows exactly where the bodies are buried in the Department, where the unexploded bombs are, and exactly the degree to which this timetable and the funding were not as set out by the previous Government.
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)
I welcome the Secretary of State and his Ministers to their roles, but let me gently warn him that if he intends to run a contest on which Member can harangue him the most on crumbling hospitals, our 72 Liberal Democrat MPs say, “Challenge accepted.”
Under the Conservatives, the new hospital programme ground to a halt. We know the terrible stories of nurses running bucket rotas and all the rest. We have the worst of all worlds at the moment: trusts such as mine in west Hertfordshire are champing at the bit to get going but cannot, and are being held back. Other trusts have capital funds that they want to spend but are not allowed to because of outdated rules, and there are industry concerns that the one, top-down, centralised approach of the Conservatives could decimate competition in that industry, when we need a thriving industry to rebuild our hospitals and primary care. What is the Secretary of State’s response to that approach?
Andrew Gwynne
I welcome the hon. Gentleman back to the House, but I politely say to him that he needs to be a little bit patient. There will be some announcements in the near future on this Government’s plans for social care. He should rest assured that we on the Labour Benches understand the integration agenda. We understand the need to fix both the NHS and social care, and this Labour Government will do that.
Sir John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)
I congratulate the Minister and his Front-Bench colleagues on their appointments. I welcome the suggestion that the Government are considering the possibility of a royal commission on social care and intend to address the issue on a cross-party basis, but that will take time. Can the Minister therefore confirm that, as was suggested during the election campaign, the Government will take forward the Dilnot reforms, and in particular that they will introduce a cap on social care costs, as was planned by the previous Government?
Andrew Gwynne
It was, of course, the right hon. Gentleman’s Government who kicked the can down the road on these issues. They allowed the system to spend the transformation money that had been provided precisely for the purpose of the Dilnot reforms on fixing their broken national health service. He should just be a little bit patient, as we will announce our proposals for social care shortly. He should rest assured that, as I have said to him before, this Labour Government are determined to fix both the broken NHS and the broken social care system that we inherited from 14 years of Tory failure.
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)
The Liberal Democrats spoke about care a great deal during the general election campaign. At the heart of our plans was our pledge to introduce free personal care. Will Ministers please confirm whether they intend to open cross-party talks and, if so, whether free personal care will be on the table as one potential option?
Wes Streeting
I am delighted to see my hon. Friend back in the House. She campaigns relentlessly on this vital issue, and it would be very risky for me to do anything other than agree to meet her, because I share her view that progress needs to be made on it.
Victoria Atkins (Louth and Horncastle) (Con)
May I welcome the Secretary of State and his ministerial team to their places, and wish them well in their endeavours? With your indulgence, Mr Speaker, I should also place on the record my thanks to my superb team of former Ministers, to those in the private office and to officials in the Department for their hard work and support, as well as thanking the doctors, nurses and social care and health professionals with whom I have had the pleasure of working.
Now, to business. In opposition, the Secretary of State described the 35% pay rise demand by the junior doctors committee as “reasonable’. What he did not tell the public was that this single trade union demand would cost an additional £3 billion, let alone the impact on other public sector workers. Will he ask the Chancellor to raise taxes, or will she ask him to cut patient services to pay for it?
Wes Streeting
Obviously, there is a judicial review of the former Secretary of State’s decision, which I am defending. The matter is sub judice, so I will steer clear of it.
To go back to first principles, we are wholeheartedly committed to the full implementation of the Cass review, which will deliver material improvements in the wellbeing, safety and dignity of trans people of all ages. I think that is important. I want to reassure LGBT+ communities across the country, particularly the trans community, that this Government seek a very different relationship with them. I look at the rising hate crime statistics and trans people’s struggles to access healthcare, and I look at their desire to live freely, equally and with dignity. That is what we will work with them to deliver.
Mr Speaker
Order. I understand that today is a new start with Question Time, but we have to be short and speedy. That is the whole idea of oral questions, because otherwise Members are not going to get in.
Satvir Kaur (Southampton Test) (Lab)
Oral Answers to Questions
Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts(8 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Andrew Stephenson
I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the issue.
Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)
Happy St George’s day, Mr Speaker.
Westminster is awash with rumours that the Prime Minister will call a July general election, presumably to avoid giving his Rwanda gimmick the time to fail. I have a very simple question for the Minister: will he repeat the pledge that the Prime Minister made last year and promise that NHS waiting lists will be lower at the time of the general election than when the Prime Minister came to office?
Dame Andrea Leadsom
It is fantastic that hard-working GPs have delivered 60 million more appointments a year than in 2019. That is a credit to their efforts. The Government have undertaken a wide range of approaches to try to reduce the administrative burden. We are focused on trying to deal with some of the issues that GPs have raised with me about the primary and secondary care interface so that they do not have to write all the fit notes and liaise with consultants. We have also spent more than £200 million on digital telephony. Importantly, the additional roles reimbursement scheme has added more than 36,000 more professional staff, from physios to pharmacists to those in GP practices, to try to support patient access.
Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab/Co-op)
At the last general election, the Government promised to deliver 6,000 more GPs by 2024-25, but there are still 2,000 fewer GPs than in 2015. Part of the problem is that morale has plummeted in the past decade, meaning that experienced family doctors and newly qualified GPs are hanging up their stethoscopes. What does the Minister say after scrapping two GP retention schemes last month? Will she come clean today about another broken manifesto promise?
Andrew Stephenson
The hon. Member raises a very important point. Obesity is linked to many health conditions, including type 2 diabetes. We are delivering an ambitious programme of work to create a healthy environment to support people in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. This includes restricting the placements of less healthy products in shops and online, calorie labelling on food sold in restaurants and a tax on the sugary drinks industry, which has removed the equivalent of 45,000 tonnes of sugar from soft drinks.
Victoria Atkins
My right hon. Friend makes an important point. The purpose of the levelling-up fund is to help local areas to address what they need locally, rather than respond to diktat from central London. I encourage her to work closely, as I know she will, with local agencies, the council and others making those important decisions, so that their levelling-up announcements include health, as an integral part of her mission to improve the lives of her constituents.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
Back in the real world, the record of the last Labour Government is that we increased life expectancy by three years. Under this Government, it has stalled for the first time in a century, with people in Blackpool, for example, expected to live four and a half years less than the national average. Is the Secretary of State proud of this shocking record, or will people have to wait to elect Chris Webb in Blackpool South and a Labour Government at Westminster to finally turn the tide on health inequalities?
Victoria Atkins
As the hon. Lady will know—she saw the statistics published very recently—we are in fact treating more people at earlier stages of their cancer. I want to take on her point about gynaecological waits, because that is important. We are spending more than £8 billion in this spending review period on additional elective activity, and investing in additional capacity, including community diagnostic centres and surgical hubs, many of which provide gynaecological tests and procedures. She may have missed it, but the latest published management information for March shows that the longest waits for gynaecology services have reduced by nearly 95% since their peak in September 2021. Of course there is more to do, but we are making progress. I thank all the doctors and teams who are involved in that important work.
Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab/Co-op)
Today, we have seen alarming figures pointing to the systematic de-prioritisation of women’s health, with 600,000 women in England waiting for gynaecological treatment, 33,000 women waiting more than a year, and under two thirds of eligible women screened for breast cancer in the last three years. Will the Secretary of State come clean and admit that under this Government, women’s health has become an afterthought?
Victoria Atkins
I dispute the 17-year figure, as it can vary across innovations. The figure is contested, but my hon. Friend raises an important point. We have a plan to prioritise the acceleration of patient access, thereby ensuring safe, effective and innovative medical technology for patients and the NHS. Our ambition is backed by funding, and we are reforming the medical technology regulatory framework, introducing the innovative devices access pathway pilot and launching frameworks to increase the availability of innovative products for the sake of patients across England and the United Kingdom.
Victoria Atkins
I am delighted to be able to tell the hon. Gentleman that we have modelled down the ambitions, so the figure we initially provided was higher than 2.5 million appointments. That is because we are focused on delivering the dental recovery plan, rather than overpromising.
The hon. Gentleman finds it easy to call our children short and fat, but he shies away from welfare reform, calling it shameless and irresponsible. He says he is ready to stand up to middle-class lefties, but Labour has never put patients first by condemning the unions that strike. He makes glossy promises about reforming the NHS in England, yet Labour has failed completely—
Mr Speaker
Order. I gently say that we need to get a lot of Back Benchers in, and I am sure both sides want to do that.
Wes Streeting
The last Labour Government delivered the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history, which is a record that the right hon. Lady’s Government cannot begin to touch.
Back to dentistry, the chief dental officer says the announcement is “nowhere near enough.” The British Dental Association says:
“This ‘Recovery Plan’ is not worthy of the title.”
It also says that the recovery plan will not stop the “exodus” of dentists and will not meet the Government’s targets. Who should the public trust, and why should they trust the Health Secretary to deliver when her own adviser, her own Minister and, crucially, dentists all say that she is brushing the truth under the carpet?
Victoria Atkins
I thank my right hon. Friend for raising that matter. I understand that a consultation was conducted locally and that more than 5,000 local people and staff responded. Their feedback will be analysed by an independent research agency, which will produce a report for the Mid and South Essex ICB, and a meeting is due to take place in public in July. I will, of course, continue to take an interest in this matter.
Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)
The recent announcements on fit note reform are just the latest in a long string of attacks on the most vulnerable people in society. Sick and disabled people are being vilified, when, as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation points out, almost two thirds of those living in destitution live with a chronic health condition or a disability. The UK Government are continuing their track record in failing, and making life more difficult for, disabled people. Does the Secretary of State understand how much more difficult these changes will make people’s lives?
Victoria Atkins
We switched on our fully funded dental recovery plan, in case the hon. Gentleman was not listening carefully earlier, on 1 March. Nearly 500 more practices in England are accepting new adult patients than at the end of January, and even more will do so under the dental recovery plan. We have plans to bring in new dental vans to help our most isolated communities. We are also bringing in the Smile4Life programme for children, because prevention must be a critical part of our dental recovery plan.
Oral Answers to Questions
Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts(10 months, 2 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Helen Whately
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to talk about the whole health system. One thing we are doing as part of our work on urgent and emergency care is preventing people from being admitted to hospital unnecessarily, or from being brought to A&E in the first place. Primary care is part of that. In our investment in expanding medical school places, we are particularly encouraging medical schools, such as the new Kent and Canterbury Medical School near me, to train students to work more outside hospitals, including in primary care.
Helen Whately
I work closely with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions on the recruitment of people looking for jobs in social care, and I will raise that point with my colleague in the Department.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
It was the Minister’s party that promised to fix the crisis in social care “once and for all”. With vacancy rates almost three times above the national average and turnover rates for new staff at more than 45%, it is clear that the Government failed. Labour’s plan for a national care service with clear standards for providers and a new deal for staff will give social care the fundamental reset it needs. The Government have done it with our workforce plan, and they have half-heartedly tried it with dentistry. Does the Minister want to copy our homework once again?
Helen Whately
Let us be honest, Labour has no plan for social care. Whatever the shadow Minister says, it is unfunded. There is no funding committed to it and it is not meaningful. Those of us on the Conservative side of the House are reforming adult social care. We not only have a plan, but it is in progress.
Amy Callaghan (East Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
I have asked the Secretary of State a number of times how she intends to recruit and retain social care staff, particularly with the visa changes coming into effect next Monday, stopping those from overseas coming to fill skills gaps from bringing their spouse or dependants with them. I ask again: how does the Secretary of State intend to improve the recruitment and retention of staff in the social care sector while her colleagues effectively work to undermine her?
Andrew Stephenson
Significant investment is going in to reduce both general wait times and cancer wait times. More patients on the cancer pathway have been seen than ever before; nearly 220,000 patients were seen last December following an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer, representing 117% of December 2019 levels. We continue to keep this under review and continue to strive to make the system go faster and reduce the elective backlog.
Abena Oppong-Asare (Erith and Thamesmead) (Lab)
NHS figures from December show that the number of women waiting for gynaecological treatment reached another record high of nearly 600,000. That number has tripled since 2012. A Labour Government will cut NHS waiting lists in England by funding 2 million more appointments a year. What can the Minister say to the women waiting urgently for treatment?
Victoria Atkins
Again, it is for integrated care boards to assess the needs of their area. If there are concerns about access to primary care, we are keen to give them the autonomy to make decisions about how they spend their budget. We have set expectations of integrated care boards in a couple of respects—in particular, we expect them to use the money that we have provided for dental care and we have set clear expectations that integrated care boards will introduce at least one women’s health hub in their area this year.
Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)
While we are talking about the recovery of primary care and the Secretary of State is at the Dispatch Box, the recovering access plan released last May talked about high-quality online consultation, text messaging services and online booking tools. They were due in July, but that became August and then December, and I understand that it has now been delayed indefinitely due to a claim made against NHS England in what is a £300 million project. That delay is hitting access to primary care. Will the Secretary of State update the House?
Victoria Atkins
I will ask the relevant Minister to write to the hon. Lady.
Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)
The simple fact is that the Conservatives have been in power for 14 years, and general practice has never been in a worse state. Despite slogging their guts out, GPs are struggling because this Government have cut 2,000 GPs since 2015, making it even harder for patients to get an appointment. Given that, why has the Government decided that the NHS needs what the Institute for Fiscal Studies has described as the biggest funding cut since the 1970s?
Victoria Atkins
I thank my hon. Friend for supporting our dental recovery plan. Indeed, he is one of many colleagues who campaigned hard for it. I am pleased to inform him that dental activity, as measured by courses of treatment, has increased by 15% on the previous year in his local integrated care board area, and our plan will support further increases to dental access through some 2.5 million additional appointments across the country, including in his constituency. The first measure, namely new patient premiums, went live on Friday, and we hope to have the results very soon.
Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)
With a general election in the air, I welcome what the Secretary of State has said about baby loss certificates and Martha’s rule—there is genuine cross-party agreement on this. I also thank her for advance notice of today’s important written ministerial statement.
However, with a general election in the air and given the Secretary of State’s principled, vocal and consistent opposition to funding the NHS by abolishing the non-dom tax status, on a scale of one to 10—one being utterly shameless and 10 being highly embarrassed—how red-faced will she be when the Chancellor adopts Labour’s policy tomorrow?
Victoria Atkins
The Leader of the Opposition is a former barrister, and barristers like to rely on evidence, so let me give some evidence on what the Labour-run NHS in Wales looks like. People are almost twice as likely to be waiting for treatment under the Labour-run Welsh NHS—21.3% of people in Wales are waiting for hospital treatment after a consultant referral, compared with 12.8% in England. Patients in Labour-run Wales are, on average, waiting five weeks longer for NHS treatment than patients in England, and the number of patients in Wales who are escaping to seek treatment in England has increased by 40% in two years. But don’t worry, folks, according to the Leader of the Opposition this is the blueprint—
Mr Speaker
Order. I remind everyone that these are topical questions. It is about the many Members I need to get in, rather than the ping-pong over the Dispatch Box. Let us move on to Andrew Jones as a good example.
Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Dame Andrea Leadsom)
I completely agree with my hon. Friend that we need more capacity in our dental workforce, and I know he will be a big advocate for his constituency. We set out in the first ever NHS long-term workforce plan that we will increase dentistry training places by 40% by 2031-32. Our dental recovery plan sets out many different measures to improve capacity.
Amy Callaghan (East Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
Later this month I will be 10 years cancer free, having survived melanoma first as a teenager and again in my early 20s. Can the Secretary of State look me in the eye and guarantee that she is doing all she can to prevent others from getting the same diagnosis ?