Integrated Care Boards: Access to Services

Lord Kamall Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My noble friend makes an important set of observations. I can reassure your Lordships’ House that reducing inequalities is absolutely hard-wired throughout our renewed women’s health strategy. For example, we are redesigning clinical pathways for the most common women’s health conditions, and that will standardise and improve care across the country.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, when I speak to primary and community health providers, they often speak of two hierarchies that they face. At the ICB level, they say that large trusts dominate, whereas at the primary care level, they say that it is GPs who dominate, often at the cost of the voices of pharmacists, dentists and optometrists, who can take on more work, as the noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon, said. Underneath all these clinical hierarchies sit patients, who in some ICBs struggle to be heard. Given that the Government’s plans to rewire the state include abolishing local Healthwatch organisations, how will they ensure that independent patient voices—and I mean independent, not part of DHSC or from local authorities—are listened to and acted upon at all levels?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The patient’s voice is absolutely key, and that is why the Health Bill, which is currently in the Commons and will be introduced in your Lordships’ House tomorrow, is very focused on that. There will be much discussion in here. I can assure the noble Lord that patient safety, patient voice and patient experience are absolutely key, and that will be the case as we move forward to develop and further improve the NHS.