Auditory Verbal Therapy

Debate between Luke Evans and Stephen Kinnock

Tuesday 21st January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Stephen Kinnock]

I can certainly tell my hon. Friend that this is a very dynamic situation. A system never stands still. For a system to work, we have to be constantly reviewing its performance and whether it is delivering to its objectives. I believe that the 10-year plan that we are producing will absolutely lead to a radical rewiring of the way our health and care system works. It will be driven by three big shifts: from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention, and from analogue to digital.

There is no doubt at all that where there are therapies and treatments that are working—that are clearly delivering big results, and value for money for the taxpayer—it is right that we give those priority in the way that we deliver. It is clear that AVT has huge potential, and it appears to have unexplored potential. I cannot pre-empt today how this is all going to pan out in terms of the system and the reforms that we are looking to push forward, but I can assure my hon. Friend that we are committed to innovating and to building a system that is fit for the future.

In 2019, with input from the National Deaf Children’s Society, NHS England produced a guide for commissioners and providers who support children and young people with hearing loss. The guide provides practical advice on ensuring that non-hearing children receive the support they need. Auditory verbal therapy is one type of therapy to support children with hearing loss, and it is important that local commissioners know their population and have the discretion to decide how best to meet its needs. When it comes to commissioning and providing services for children with hearing loss, we have been crystal clear with ICBs and NHS trusts that they must take the relevant guidelines into account.

We recognise the real need to improve access to therapies for all children who need them, including children with hearing loss. In recent years, in very difficult circumstances, the NHS has increased the number of speech and language therapists working in the service, but we know that more needs to be done. That is why the Government are committed to fixing the NHS and building a service that is fit for the future, with the workforce it needs to get patients seen on time.

[Dr Luke Evans]

The Minister rightly points out the need to try to deal with the postcode lottery and to ensure that there are reviews and sharing of best practice, but may I draw him back to my comments about guidelines? One thing he could do is ask NICE to look at the current evidence and consider what national guidance should be in place. ICBs have the right to choose what kind of treatment they think works best, and they will be driven by the clinical evidence and clinical guidelines; if there are no clinical guidelines, they will simply make their own decisions. Will the Minister commit to doing that?

[Stephen Kinnock]

The hon. Gentleman will know that NICE has a prioritisation board, and ultimately that is the decision-making process for prioritising guidelines and the entire operating framework for what falls under NICE’s remit. This is something that absolutely should be on the radar, and of course we are constantly in conversation with NICE about its prioritisation, but it is important that it takes an objective clinical stance on the question.

We have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver a national health service that is fit for the future. The engagement process has been launched. As we work to develop and finalise the plan, I encourage those concerned about the availability of services to support children with hearing loss, including auditory verbal therapy, to engage with that process to allow us to fully understand what is not working, as well as what should be working better and the potential solutions. I encourage all hon. Members present to go to change.nhs.uk to make their voice heard.

This summer, we will publish a refreshed long-term workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will need to build over the next decade to treat patients on time and deliver far better patient outcomes. We are also in the process of commissioning research to understand the gaps between the supply and demand of different therapy types for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. That will help us to understand the demand for speech and language therapists and inform effective workforce planning.

Community Pharmacies: Devon and the South-west

Debate between Luke Evans and Stephen Kinnock

Tuesday 17th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. I thank the hon. Member for Tiverton and Minehead (Rachel Gilmour) for ensuring that this really important debate can take place today. I start by acknowledging and paying tribute to the outstanding work of community pharmacy teams in Devon, the south-west and right across the country. I have heard so many examples, showing just how many patients and communities rely on pharmacy services, and the lengths to which they go to deliver care. I thank them for their professionalism, hard work and dedication in providing excellent standards of patient care.

It is a credit to them that surveys show that nine in 10 people who visit pharmacies feel positive about the experience. Community pharmacies are often the most accessible part of our NHS, allowing people to access professional healthcare advice right there on the high street. They are also vital in supporting rural communities and people living in remote locations. Furthermore, as community pharmacies provide more clinical services, they help to relieve pressure in other areas of the NHS. That includes freeing up GP appointments, preventing hospital admissions and reducing overall pressure on secondary care.

For far too long, however, Governments have failed to recognise the essential role of community pharmacies in safeguarding the nation’s health. On 4 July, we inherited a system that has been starved of funding, with a 28% cut in funding in real terms. In many ways, it is on its knees, with far too many closures happening across the country. Lord Darzi’s report laid bare the true extent of the challenges facing our health service. Even he, with all his years of experience, was truly shocked by what he discovered. His report was vital, because it gave us a frank assessment—a diagnosis—so that we can face the problems honestly and properly. It will take a decade of national renewal, lasting reform and a long-term plan to save our NHS. We have committed to three key shifts: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. Our 10-year plan will set out how we will deliver these shifts to ensure that the NHS is fit for the future.

To develop the plan, we must have a meaningful conversation with the country and those who work in the system. We are therefore conducting a comprehensive range of engagement activities, bringing in views from the public, the health and care workforce, national and local stakeholders, system leaders and parliamentarians. I urge Members, their constituents, and staff across health and social care to tell us what is working and what needs to change. They should visit change.nhs.uk and make their voice heard.

The Government are committed to restoring the NHS to its founding promise that it will be there for all of us and our constituents when we need it. However, as identified by Lord Darzi’s review, primary care is under massive pressure and in crisis. I recognise that it is a really challenging environment for colleagues in all parts of the NHS, including in community pharmacy, but we remain resolute and determined to fix this situation.

Pharmacies are based in, and are a key part of, the communities that they serve. They are ideally placed to help to tackle inequalities and to increase the reach of and access to NHS services. This includes delivering a range of health advice and support services, helping to relieve pressure on and improve access to the wider NHS. Community pharmacies are a vital part of our NHS that must be recognised in the development of the Government’s 10-year plan. They are central to the three big shifts in healthcare that I outlined earlier. I know that pharmacies can and should play an even greater role in providing healthcare on the high street. This will be imperative if we are to deliver across the Government’s mission—not just on the health mission, but on growth and opportunity.

A healthy society and workforce are pre-conditions for prosperity and growth. We have a staggering 2.9 million people who want to work, but are unable to do so because they have been failed by our health and care system for the last 14 years. Community pharmacy has a pivotal role to play in getting our economy back on its feet and fit for the future, whether that is by identifying those with risk factors for disease such as high blood pressure, or ensuring that people can access and use their medicines to best effect. As a Government, we are fully committed to working with the sector to achieve what we all want: a community pharmacy service that is fit for the future.

I am keen to unlock the potential of the whole pharmacy team. We want pharmacists to be providing new and impactful clinical services, including our future pharmacies prescribing service. We want pharmacy technicians to have more responsibility in supporting the pharmacists, to help people to deliver the best possible health outcomes.

Every day, pharmacy teams facilitate the safe supply of medicines to patients, enabling them to manage health conditions as part of their daily lives in Devon, the south-west and right across the country. They also provide vital advice on prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines and minor ailments. But pharmacies do not just dispense medicines and offer advice. They do much more. They positively impact patients’ health and support the wider NHS by providing a wide range of clinical services. Many offer blood pressure checks, flu or covid-19 vaccinations, contraception consultations and many more locally commissioned services.

[Dr Evans]

The Minister is espousing brilliantly what community pharmacies do. That all comes under a contractual framework, and one of the key things that pharmacies are asking for is when the negotiations will start and what the terms of reference will be. Will the Minister address that point?

[Stephen Kinnock]

I thank the shadow Minister for that intervention. I am as frustrated as everybody else about the delay. The reason for the delay is that the negotiations did not get over the line before the general election. The general election came, and we have spent a lot of time now clearing up the disastrous mess that the previous Government made of the system. I can say that we are now very focused on getting these negotiations started early in the new year. I know that hon. Members across the House will be very interested in that, in terms of the contractual framework, the medicines margin and all of the funding. We have a statutory duty to consult with the sector before we can make any announcement, but we are confident that we will start the negotiations early in the new year.

We supported Pharmacy First in opposition, and we will build on that programme in the future. We look to create an independent prescribing service, where prescribing is an integral part of the services delivered by community pharmacies. We are also doing a lot of work on the IT infrastructure to make sure that the sector can more easily prescribe and refer through better IT. That is an important part of our shift from analogue to digital. We need pharmacies delivering services that help patients to access advice, prevention and treatment more easily—services that help people to make best use of the medicines they are prescribed and that ease some of the pressures in general practice and across parts of the NHS.

There are more than 10,000 pharmacies in England. They are busy dispensing medicines, offering advice and providing these services. Patients across the country can also choose to access around 400 distance-selling pharmacies that deliver medicines to patients’ homes free of charge. They play a vital role in reaching the most isolated members of our society.

I am very keen to ensure that the hon. Member for Tiverton and Minehead has a minute at the end of the debate to sum up. In the short time I have, I want to say a couple of words about her constituency, where there are 15 pharmacies. We are aware of the closure of one pharmacy in her constituency since 2017 and that the local population instead get their medicines from the neighbouring dispensing GP. I also note that, according to the latest data, there are 203 pharmacies in Devon; across the south-west, there are 916. Where closures have occurred across the south-west, the ICBs are working through the process of approving applications from new contractors. Some applications have already been granted. Following approval, the new pharmacy contractor has 12 to 15 months in which to open a pharmacy, so the ICBs are also working with GP practices and other contractors to minimise any temporary disruption for patients.

Community pharmacies are a vital part of the NHS and communities across our country. The Government are committed to supporting them now and into the future. I look forward to working with pharmacists across the country and hon. Members across this House as we progress our plans to embrace the skills, knowledge and expertise in pharmacy teams.

Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill

Debate between Luke Evans and Stephen Kinnock

Consideration of Lords amendments
Monday 18th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)]

I rise to speak in favour of all 10 of the Lords amendments that are before us today. They each serve to make this shambolic mess of a Bill marginally less absurd and, as I will come to in a second, they would serve only to put in statute what Ministers have promised from the Dispatch Box. Not one of the amendments is designed to prevent the departure of flights to Rwanda, as the Prime Minister has repeatedly and wrongly implied.

We all want to end the Tory small boats chaos, and I am proud that the Labour party has consistently put forward a smart, pragmatic and sensible plan to do so, starting by going after the criminal smuggler gangs at source through a new cross-border police unit and a new security partnership with Europol. However, this Bill and the treaty that accompanies it will not contribute in any way to achieving that aim.

[Dr Evans]

Since 2020, we have seen 82 gangs disrupted and more than 400 people arrested because of the actions of this Government. I am keen to understand Labour’s idea about smashing the gangs. How much more would that cost, and what would it look like as a total percentage of numbers?

[Stephen Kinnock]

We will eradicate the activity of the criminal smuggler gangs by having a proper security partnership with our European partners and allies. I remind the hon. Gentleman that his party has spent the last eight years trashing and destroying our relationships with our European partners and allies. What we would have with a Labour Government is a basis of trust to get the results that we need to see for the British people—that is what sovereignty is all about.

The entire Rwanda debacle has absorbed a vast amount of time, energy and money that should instead have been focused on taking back control of our border security from the criminal gangs who trade in human misery. Let us not forget that more than 100,000 asylum seekers have crossed in small boats since 2020, with 40,000 arriving on this Prime Minister’s watch alone. The chaos must end, and this Government are clearly unable to restore order at the border, so it is time for them to get out of the way so that Labour can get the job done.

Before I get into the substance of the amendments, I would like to pay tribute to the noble Members of the other place, who tabled them. In so doing, they were fulfilling their constitutional, democratic and patriotic duty by scrutinising and seeking to amend the Bill, just as they would with any other piece of legislation that comes before them. They have not been intimidated or sidetracked by the Prime Minister’s mistaken assertion that the Bill should have some kind of special status or treatment, which would somehow allow Ministers to railroad it through Parliament and to drive a coach and horses through Britain’s long-standing democratic conventions. Indeed, this profoundly dismissive attitude has manifested itself in the way in which the Government have point blank refused to engage with the Lords amendments. They have rejected every one of them, rather than seeking to use them and see them as a basis for negotiation and compromise.

--- Later in debate ---

[Stephen Kinnock]

I apologise; I should have said “home country.” I would like to correct the record. It was “home country”. Apologies; I mis-spoke.

Labour’s common-sense, pragmatic plan will smash the business model of the criminal gangs, deter dangerous journeys and tackle the backlog.

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will now run through the remaining nine amendments from the other place. We support each of them for the reasons I will now set out.

[Dr Luke Evans]

How much would Labour’s plan cost?