National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Karin Smyth]

The hon. Lady tempts me to make specific commitments, which I am not prepared to do, as I am sure she understands. She is right that people are expressing concerns about some of these decisions. That is because they are in such a precarious situation as a result of what we have inherited from the past 14 years. As the Prime Minister and the rest of the Government have been clear throughout the election and afterwards, we have a 10-year plan because it will take a long time to fix the foundations and build up the sector to make it more resilient and sustain it for the future. We want to fix those foundations, and we will talk closely with everyone affected over the coming months, but this will take a long time. Those providers are precarious because of the mess that we inherited.

[Martin Vickers (Brigg and Immingham) (Con)]

Earlier this week, I received a letter from the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire air ambulance, a charitable healthcare provider. The national insurance changes will add £70,000 a year to its costs, and if it is forced to close, lives will be lost. May I urge the Minister—I know she will want to protect this service—to do all she can to ensure that that air ambulance and others across the country are not hit by this tax?

[Karin Smyth]

I assure the hon. Gentleman that since we were elected, the Government have already taken action to secure extra investment in the health and social care system, and we are committed to building a thriving health and social care system for the rest of the 21st century.

Breast Cancer: Younger Women

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 12th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Martin Vickers (in the Chair)]

I will call Vera Hobhouse to move the motion, and I will then call the Minister to respond. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention in 30-minute debates.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered breast cancer in younger women.

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Vickers. I thank the Minister for being here to respond.

Every woman deserves a fair chance against breast cancer, no matter her age. It is the most common type of cancer in the UK. Most women who are diagnosed are over 50, and it is therefore a disease often associated with older women, but young women are at risk, too. Breast cancer in younger women is often caught later when it is more advanced. That is because there is no routine screening and too often symptoms get dismissed as something less serious. That must change. Awareness and early detection are crucial, no matter your age.

The issue arose for me during a constituency surgery when my Bath constituent Lucy shared her story, which resonated with me because my nephew’s mother died many years ago of breast cancer aged 35. In 2021 Lucy, who was 38, had two young children and was diagnosed with primary breast cancer. She underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy before being given the all-clear. In 2024, when she was 41, a self-initiated MRI scan tragically came back showing that her cancer had returned, leading to a diagnosis of secondary breast cancer, which is currently incurable. In both cases she found it a struggle to be diagnosed.

The first time, despite her mother having had breast cancer and Lucy presenting with a lump, at least three different doctors told her that it was likely to be hormones and nothing to worry about. It was not until she requested the biopsy, which ultimately came back showing it was cancer, that the diagnosis was made. The second time she repeatedly voiced concerns about a symptom that she was experiencing, but she was repeatedly assured that it was just a side effect of the treatment. Still concerned, she approached the GP, who did some initial tests but ultimately suggested that her worries were anxiety-driven. After that appointment she came out and sobbed in her car.

Searching for peace of mind, Lucy then paid privately for a breast MRI, which tragically revealed that the cancer had returned, but by then it was too late. In both cases—first by requesting the biopsy and secondly by initiating an MRI—it was up to Lucy to fight for a diagnosis.

NHS Dentistry: South-west

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 12th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Richard Foord]

I agree. One way in which we can share best practice is by thinking about not only training places, but the recognition of qualifications. After the UK’s exit from the European Union, we saw a breakdown in the number of EU dentists wanting to stay or being attracted here. With fewer eastern European dentists, in the south-west of England, for example, we need to look again at dental qualifications and whether there are some dentist qualifications we might recognise that might make it more attractive to be a practising dentist in the UK.

The rural south-west of England needs to be able to expect the same level of NHS dentistry provision that we see in urban areas across the country. Will the Minister commit to the reform of NHS dentistry so that constituents such as Mike and Shirley do not have to go into the red or forfeit heating their homes to get dental care that avoids them going to acute hospitals such as the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital at Exeter?

[Martin Vickers (in the Chair)]

I remind Members that if they wish to speak, they should bob. If they could limit their contributions to an absolute maximum of four minutes, we will probably get everyone in. But it is going to be a squeeze, particularly if there are too many interventions.

Hospice Funding

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Peter Gibson (Darlington) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Bambos Charalambous); it is great to see him in the Chamber after his performance yesterday in the London marathon. I congratulate him on completing it.

It is a pleasure to be called to speak in this long-awaited debate, and I thank and congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart) for moving the motion. I thank hospices around the country that have engaged with me in my preparation for today’s debate, and I thank the Hospice UK team—Toby, Katie and Olivia in particular—for their ongoing support for me and the all-party parliamentary group on hospice and end of life care, which I co-chair along with Baroness Finlay of Llandaff.

I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am a trustee of North Yorkshire Hospice Care, which operates both Herriot Hospice Homecare and Saint Michael’s hospice in Harrogate. I have served as a trustee of that hospice for over a decade, and have seen the difficulties that piecemeal commissioning causes for our precious hospices. To my mind, this debate is not simply about asking the Government for more money—we know that there are serious public financial challenges post pandemic—but an opportunity to discuss on the Floor of the House solutions to the challenges that our hospices face. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing us to have this debate. The number of Members who wish to speak in support of their local hospices today is testament to how much each and every one of our communities values its local hospices.

This is a matter of life and death. The hospice movement is there to deliver good deaths; that might seem a strange thing to say, but palliative care delivered in the right environment—be that a hospice, a children’s hospice, or a person’s home through a hospice at home service—is a truly wonderful thing. Those precious final few weeks of a person’s life are imprinted into our memories, and it is right that those who are dying, and those who are loving, supporting and caring for them, do so in an environment where there is proper funding and commissioning, and where we can plan and prepare to provide continuing care.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his contribution, as well as the Members who made the previous contributions, both of which focused to some extent on palliative and end of life care. Two hospices serve my constituency, St Andrew’s in Grimsby and Lindsey Lodge in Scunthorpe; both provide an excellent end of life environment. Does my hon. Friend agree that if we are to defuse the movement towards encouraging assisted dying, we need to ensure that our hospices provide a service as an alternative?

[Peter Gibson]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention. I have my personal views about assisted dying, and I am sure that in the fullness of time, this House will debate that issue. This debate is not about assisted dying: it is about our hospices, and how we fund and support them. With the greatest of respect to my hon. Friend, conflating the two issues is not helpful.

Even post death, our wonderful hospice movement provides much-needed bereavement care to those who have suffered the loss of a loved one. The Health and Social Care Act 2021 made provision for the very first time for the commissioning of palliative care. That is a landmark. Integrated care boards around the country now have responsibility for commissioning palliative care to meet the needs of the community that they serve, which is a good thing. It ensures that local commissioners, working together with local providers and local representatives, can deliver the palliative care needs of their respective communities.

NHS Dentistry: Recovery and Reform

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Wednesday 7th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Atkins]

I hope the hon. Gentleman will publicise the new patient premium, because that is one of the levers through which we will unlock places for new patients. I remember that he has taken an interest in this issue. I very much understand the point about location. We have set strict criteria for how dental vans will be deployed, but the new patient premium is across the country. We want as many people as possible to see NHS dentists and fill those 2.5 million more appointments.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I particularly welcome the initiative to improve services in coastal and rural areas. The Health Secretary and I are constituency neighbours, and she will know the complexities of delivering local services in what we know as greater Lincolnshire, because her constituency is in the east midlands and mine is in Yorkshire and the Humber. Can she guarantee that the whole of greater Lincolnshire, from the south of the county up to Barton-upon-Humber, will receive the benefits of the new proposals?

[Victoria Atkins]

I am delighted to inform my hon. Friend and neighbour that the new patient premium applies across England, and of course people can move to the dental practice that can offer them the services they need, so I trust that his constituents will be as happy as mine.

COP10: WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Thursday 18th January 2024 Westminster Hall

[Dame Andrea Leadsom]

No, to put it simply—and I do not know if that is the case. I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. As he knows, I always listen carefully to his usually very wise words, so I will take that away and get an answer for him.

We should be proud of our record on keeping tobacco control at the top of not just the national agenda, but the global agenda. We are a world-leading trailblazer in tobacco control, and our delegation to COP10 will proudly set out our unique and sovereign approach. My firm belief is that our policy could save countless lives in this country and, through our example, overseas. Crucially, we are using the conference to showcase UK plc to the world.

I say to the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Martyn Day) that I have been delighted with the collaborative, cross-party approach that colleagues in the devolved Administrations have taken to our smoking and vapes Bill. However, importantly, at an official level, there has recently been an agreed approach to the COP10 delegation. I hope that reassures him that all views from all parts of the United Kingdom are carefully being taken into account.

COP10 will be a forum in which we can exchange ideas with countries such as Canada and Australia. We will back other countries in their efforts to kick the habit, but we will also present our case as strongly as we can. We are going beyond the convention in certain areas, and we have a different view in others. All colleagues should be reassured that we alone will decide what those views are, through our sovereign Parliament.

[Martin Vickers (in the Chair)]

Andrew Lewer has two minutes to wind up.

NHS Long-term Workforce Plan

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Monday 3rd July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

The question started by saying that we do not want plans for the future, we want to deal with the present, and finished by asking if we can have a plan for the future rather than for the present. The plan sets out significant additional numbers. Significant investment is going into eye services here and now. Let me give the House one example: at King’s Lynn hospital, in addition to our investment in a new hospital to replace the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete hospital, and in addition to the new diagnostic centre, I had the opportunity in the summer to open a new £3 million eye centre, which is doubling the number of patients who receive eye care in King’s Lynn. That is just one practical example of our investment in eye services now.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

May I add my words of condolence for Lord Kerslake, who served on the greater Grimsby regeneration board, which oversees regeneration in the Grimsby-Cleethorpes area? We greatly valued his experience and advice. Following the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Scunthorpe (Holly Mumby-Croft), it is important that we tie in dentists—and I would suggest GPs—to NHS services, but could they also be directed to areas of greatest need, such as northern Lincolnshire?

[Steve Barclay]

The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Harborough (Neil O'Brien) is looking at how we deliver more services within the existing contract, and at what incentives and reforms can be put in place to ensure that the parts of the country that find it hardest to recruit dentists are best able to do so, through both our domestic supply and international recruitment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 24th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Maria Caulfield]

As the hon. Gentleman knows—we discussed the issue over the telephone last week—the decision was taken to wind down the Rosalind Franklin Laboratory because the number of PCR tests has reduced significantly and NHS laboratories can take that capacity. There is a residual service and additional use of the laboratory is being considered.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I recently met a dentist in my constituency whose practice group operates over 19 sites where the rate for units of dental activity ranges from £25 to £36. He is convinced that there needs to be a uniform UDA rate to attract NHS dentists to areas such as Cleethorpes. Can the Minister consider that?

Urgent and Emergency Care

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

One of my reasons for going out with the London Ambulance Service—among others—over the summer was to answer the charge about what Ministers were doing, and to observe at first hand the challenges that the service had been facing. As the hon. Lady will know, performance has improved since the summer, but the service remains challenged. That is why we are considering a range of measures, such as boosting emergency departments, looking at pre and post-cohorting, looking at how we work with the taskforce, and looking at single points of access. One issue that paramedics emphasise to me is the need for, in particular, a better way for frail elderly patients to gain access to a single point for social care provision. We are working closely on that range of measures with colleagues in the London Ambulance Service.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

In recent weeks I have been supporting a constituent who has complained to the East Midlands Ambulance Service. The complaint centred on the fact that it took nine hours and 26 minutes following a 999 call for an ambulance to arrive at the home of my constituent’s mother. When she arrived at Scunthorpe Hospital, it took another two hours and seven minutes before she was handed over to the hospital staff. I find it particularly disturbing that the letter from the chairman of the East Midlands ambulance service, after explaining the procedure and protocol that was followed, says:

“I can confirm that the 999 call had been responded to appropriately.”

Needless to say, my constituent, who is a retired senior police officer and well aware of pressures on the emergency services, would not agree that it was dealt with appropriately. If I forward the details to my right hon. Friend the Minister, could he follow up with the East Midlands ambulance service and come back to me? Hopefully, that will mean the service provided to my constituents by the ambulance service can be improved.

[Steve Barclay]

I am very happy to ensure that that specific case, which is obviously concerning, is looked at. As my hon. Friend will know from my earlier remarks, we are boosting the number of 999 call handlers—those numbers are up and there are around 350 more call handlers than in September 2021—and we are also training more paramedics. Numbers are going up, but obviously demand has increased exponentially as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 14th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising the importance of getting vaccinations right. She will know that we rely on the independent advice of our clinicians—the committee known as the JCVI—and I think it is right that it is independent. Ultimately, it decides on its advice, and it is for Ministers whether to accept it. However, she has made an important point about unpaid carers, and I will ask the JCVI to see if that can be properly considered in the autumn booster review.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

T6. 2002 I heard what the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), had to say about dentistry earlier, and I recognise the work she is doing to improve the situation. However, in northern Lincolnshire, like many other areas, we have very severe gaps in provision. Could the Minister outline what is being done to ensure that newly qualified dentists actually work in the NHS for a considerable time and that new practices are established in the areas where the need is greatest?

[Sajid Javid]

I am happy to respond to my hon. Friend. He is right that we of course want to ensure that everyone has timely access to NHS dentistry and that the profession is an appealing career choice. Health Education England has a dental education and reform programme, which will help retain new dentists in the NHS by placing training in areas of greatest need, and offer more flexibility and more career pathways. I can also tell him that, in Lincolnshire, commissioners are already looking at ways to support NHS dentistry through support such as the golden hello incentives.