Health Bill

Nusrat Ghani Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 1st June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order. Interventions are going to make it very difficult for everyone to speak in the debate. I call Dr Beccy Cooper.

[Dr Beccy Cooper (Worthing West) (Lab)]

I will try to keep my remarks brief. The NHS is one of the most unifying institutions in our country today. It is a huge employer, a major source of pride, and a safety net for us all at our moments of greatest need. We all know that it has been creaking under significant strain for some time now, so it is good to see new life and new energy in the 10-year plan. I welcome this Bill as a response to some of the purpose outlined in the strategy.

A lot of the detail in the Bill has been covered by colleagues already and will doubtless be covered further in the Bill Committee, so I will limit my remarks to single patient records and the role of public health in the Bill. I am fully supportive of a single patient record finally being realised. Our health and care system should revolve around patients, rather than patients revolving around it. It is over 20 years since I was a junior doctor, but I still remember my and my patients’ frustration when I once again had to ask them for their clinical history after they had already told it to the GP, the paramedic and the triage nurse.

This endeavour has been tried several times before. The financial cost of NHS Digital and the litany of platforms, software and systems that have been tried and abandoned provide a wealth of lessons learned to ensure that it is successful this time—which, let us face it, is long overdue. Public trust is very important for health data systems. We could consider new safeguards such as a public interest test for sharing data or bringing back requirements to report to Parliament. The NHS must ensure that the technical know-how is sound, as well as being fleet of foot.

I turn to the role of public and population health in this NHS Bill. Public health must be front and centre to provide the right health services in the right place at the right time. At an ICB level, there is now an explicit requirement for population health considerations to be understood. Integrated care boards will be responsible for commissioning the vast majority of our local NHS services, so they need to know the population health need.

That has been demonstrated in my ICB area of Sussex over the past couple of weeks. In the discussions about proposed sites for neighbourhood health hubs, it became clear that the population needs of my constituency of Worthing West had not been entirely understood when considering sites: there is a large area containing several villages with an ageing population and limited access to transport, whose requirements had not hit the radar of the ICB.

To be clear, this is not about blame—anyone who thinks that planning for population health needs is straightforward is welcome to sit the public health exams in epidemiology and statistics. Expertise is there to be used, and we should draw on it. I therefore suggest that we require a statutory appointment of a lead director of public health to represent the area covered by each integrated care board.

Finally, to guard against a focus solely on reorganisation, alongside this NHS Bill and as a key focus of the 10-year strategy we must have a whole of Government approach that recognises health as a strategic and shared asset—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order.

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order. To ensure that the final four speakers can get in, the speaking limit will become two and a half minutes.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sureena Brackenridge (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)]

Given the lack of time remaining in this debate, I will focus my remarks on the long-overdue move to a much-welcomed single patient record.

Many Members will have had constituents get in touch with casework, raising blunders and delays that stem from fragmented patient records. When they have been in severe pain or at their most vulnerable, patients have been asked to repeat the same medical history again and again to different clinicians, whether in hospital or in the GP setting. It is frustrating, and in some cases distressing, especially if the patient is elderly or with neurological conditions such as dementia. A single patient record will ensure that clinicians have the right information at the right time, including on allergies, medications and previous diagnoses, so that they are better placed to make the right decision quickly. Today, we have heard of surgeons who have had to cancel operations because patient histories were incomplete or did not arrive quickly enough. There is consensus that a single patient record will make a significant difference in A&E, for paramedics at the roadside and even in routine care, where small details can have significant consequences.

I must, however, also make clear the concerns of many of my residents in Wolverhampton North East. Bringing together such large volumes of highly sensitive personal data into a single system will inevitably raise questions about cyber-security and data protection. We know that patient data in the UK would be extremely lucrative to some, and many will be acutely aware of international interest in getting hold of our data-rich NHS in order to profiteer. As such, can the Minister set out in more detail the safeguards that will be built into the system from the very start to guard against cyber-attacks and unauthorised access? How will this be controlled, and what oversight will exist to ensure that public confidence is maintained if threats evolve?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the shadow Minister.