Oral Answers to Questions

Lorraine Beavers Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

The approach we are taking is different from that taken during previous periods of strike action. NHS leaders have made it clear to me that those earlier strikes caused much wider harm than had previously been realised. There is no reason why planned care—appointments relating to cancer, for example, as well as other conditions—should be treated as being less important than, or playing second fiddle to, other NHS services. That is why the chief executive of NHS England has written to NHS leaders asking them to keep routine operations going to the fullest extent possible, as well as continuing priority treatments. It will be for local leaders to determine what is possible given staffing levels, which is why it is so important for resident doctors to engage with their employers about their determination—or not—to turn up at work this week, and why I must again spell out the serious consequences for patients should these avoidable and unnecessary strikes go ahead.

[Lorraine Beavers (Blackpool North and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

Healthcare assistants at Blackpool teaching hospitals NHS foundation trust have been underpaid on the wrong band for years, but the trust has consistently failed to put that right, and as a result staff have been left with no choice but to be balloted for strike action by Unison from today. Healthcare assistants play a vital role in our NHS, but is it any wonder that they often feel undervalued and demoralised when they are not paid the correct rate for the duties that they undertake? Does the Secretary of State agree that Blackpool’s healthcare assistants are worth just as much as those in the rest of the north-west and that the trust should pay up now?

[Wes Streeting]

I should declare that I am a member of Unison. The issue that my hon. Friend raises is a serious one. We obviously do not want to see strike action impacting on her local constituents, and my Department will do everything we can to help bring an end to the dispute.

I will make a more general point: these sorts of choices and trade-offs about resources are precisely why the BMA resident doctors, having received a 28.9% pay rise from this Government in the last year, ought to remember the responsibility that I and they have to some of their lower-paid colleagues. Resources are finite, and it is important that I act in the interests of all NHS staff and have particular concern for those who work extremely hard but are not properly rewarded.

Alcohol and Cancer

Lorraine Beavers Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Lorraine Beavers (Blackpool North and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Wyre (Cat Smith) for securing this incredibly important debate. Having represented the Fleetwood part of my constituency prior to the boundary review, she will know the way the health service in that part of Lancashire has suffered from chronic underfunding throughout the 14 years of Conservative austerity and neglect.

My constituency suffers from more alcohol-related hospital admissions, cancer cases and deaths than the English average. It is a symptom of a community held back by low investment, industrial decline and neglect from national Government. I know at first hand the harm that alcoholism causes in communities and families; I have lost four members of my family to alcohol-related deaths. It was therefore extremely welcome to see the Government announce the 10-year health plan, but the plan must go further on alcohol-related diseases and cancers.

Although measures such as new standards for alcohol labelling and supporting the growth of low and non-alcohol sectors are welcome, we should be far more ambitious. We have not had a dedicated alcohol strategy since 2012. The Government should rectify that as part of the 10-year health plan. However, there are immediate measures that the Government can take, for example, ensuring that new alcohol labelling includes an explicit warning about the link between alcohol and cancer; strengthening marketing restrictions by classifying alcohol as an unhealthy product; and acknowledging the detrimental impact of the industry’s involvement in policy development.

It is clear that our current policy is woefully inadequate. Alcohol-related deaths are at an all-time high. We cannot be satisfied with our approach until the numbers begin to fall. We cannot afford to miss opportunities. Announcements such as the 10-year health plan must include a clear strategy to reduce alcohol-related deaths in future. That means introducing measures such as those I mentioned in my speech, but it also means addressing the root causes of poverty and under-investment.

Rare Cancers Bill

Lorraine Beavers Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 14th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lorraine Beavers (Blackpool North and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) for introducing the Bill.

I remember the day my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I remember my mum and dad picking me up off the floor. I was supposed to be supporting them, but that did not happen that day. Dr Lau at Blackpool Victoria hospital explained that my dad’s cancer was terminal. My dad was initially given chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumours and give us more time. Later, he was asked to take part in a trial using immunotherapy. It was explained that the immune system does not recognise cancer as alien and as a threat. Immunotherapy teaches the immune system to recognise cancer, and enables the body’s immune system to fight back.

My dad was a fighter and he was willing to try anything. His body struggled with chemotherapy, and after we nearly lost him twice in 12 months it was stopped, but the immunotherapy continued. He finished the course without any complications. Once my dad started the treatment, the cancers—there were many—never moved. To this day, we do not know whether the treatment cured him and he was left with just scar tissue, or whether the cancers lay dormant. What I can tell the House is that my dad did not die of cancer; it was something else that took him from us.

My family believe that we were given an extra three years of loving and being loved by my lovely dad because of immunotherapy. We will always be grateful for the Christmas days, the birthdays, the celebrations and sometimes the tears that we were all able to share with my wonderful, caring dad.

People with rare cancers deserve the funding and research trials that the Bill will initiate. They should have the chance of life that my dad was given. That starts with ensuring that patients can get better access to clinical trials. Many people miss out on potentially life-extending trials because there is just not as much information out there as there needs to be. Recent research has found that 82% of respondents with a less common or rare cancer were not offered an opportunity to be part of a clinical trial. That has to change, and the Bill would achieve that.

I support the Bill, because everyone diagnosed with cancer should be given every chance of survival. Without the Bill, people with rare cancers will die sooner than other cancer patients, not having been given the chance to fight this terrible disease. I speak for them, so that they can have the chances that were awarded to my dad. I thank Dr Lau, my dad’s consultant, for giving an 81-year-old man the precious gift of life for a few years longer.