Summer Health and Resilience

Luke Evans Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this. He is right to stand up for the staff at Hillingdon but also right across the country. These people are doing the most important jobs in the country: caring for all of us at the time when we need them most, at the time when things go wrong in our lives—when we are sick and we need help and support. It is a total disgrace that, while doing that job, they should face abuse, violence, discrimination or racism. It is totally appalling and unacceptable. I am keen to work with staff groups, trade unions and NHS organisations right across the country to uphold strong standards, stand up for our staff and ensure that they have the support they need, and I look forward to working with him on this.

[Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)]

We are talking about resilience, and one of the things that has made resilience worse is Labour’s policy on mandatory advice and guidance, and single point of access. We know that secondary care doctors and GPs are struggling but, more importantly, it is causing actual harm to patients. Those are not my words, but those of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body, the health watchdog, which has asked for a review to be commissioned to look into this specifically. Has the Secretary of State read that report, will she commission that review and, if so, who will do it and by when will it be done?

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend the Minister for Secondary Care has been looking in detail at that report. We obviously take all reports immensely seriously. The advice and guidance have been in place for some time and rightly provide huge amounts of support, advice and, actually, improvements in healthcare right across the country. Where there are cases where things go wrong or where cases are raised with us, we will always investigate them and take them immensely seriously. We will also always ensure that the whole regulatory framework is there to ensure that the highest standards are upheld.