Hospice and Palliative Care
Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Jess Brown-Fuller(1 week, 3 days ago)
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Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler) for securing today’s important debate, and all hon. Members for approaching the conversation with the compassion and thoughtfulness that this topic deserves.
Examples shared across the House show that hospices are a vital part of our healthcare system. They provide outstanding care for patients approaching the end of their lives, offering dignity, comfort and support to families, and they are often driven by hundreds of volunteers, alongside the paid staff. Hospices will play a key role in meeting this Government’s objective to move care from hospitals to the community. This debate is very timely, given that the front pages of the newspapers are reporting today that half a million people were left languishing on trolleys in A&E and in corridors in 2024 because there were not enough beds to admit them.
Hospices, such as the extraordinary St Wilfrid’s in my constituency of Chichester, are the cornerstone of community care. I was blown away during my recent visit to St Wilfrid’s, and I am not ashamed to admit that I was brought to tears by the accounts of the family members, patients and staff I met that day. I applaud the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner) for her show of emotion, because it is an emotive topic. St Wilfrid’s provides comfort and compassion to patients and their families during life’s most challenging moments—both directly in the calm and idyllic surroundings of the hospice and out in the community, providing palliative care for 300 people in the comfort of their own homes. It is St Wilfrid’s belief that everybody should be afforded a good death, and it strives to ensure that there is beauty in every day for patients and their loved ones, yet its service is being crippled by rising costs and a lack of sufficient Government support.
Hospices are in the process of setting their upcoming budgets, and many are having to make difficult long-term decisions to cut palliative care because they lack a long-term solution to address the growing financial strain. As the hon. Member for North Herefordshire (Ellie Chowns) mentioned, it is all well and good being able to say you have a lovely car park when you do not have any nurses to park in it. Only 17% of the overall cost of St Wilfrid’s hospice is currently covered by NHS grant funding—well below the minimum requirement across the country.
One of the biggest components of hospice costs is the salary of their expert clinical and other staff. Hospices are trying to match NHS salary increases to ensure that staff can afford to stay with them, and to remain competitive. In addition, they are now burdened with paying increased national insurance contributions, whereas direct NHS providers are exempt. For St Wilfrid’s, the rise in national insurance contributions will cost an additional £210,000, which is a significant financial burden. Although we Liberal Democrats and hospices alike welcomed the capital investment announcement in December 2024, that funding does not address the challenges of day-to-day spend, so there is still a vast gulf between rising expenses and available income. As the hon. Member for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton) said, the funding must be the start, not the end.
Hospice UK has warned that around 300 hospice in-patient beds—14% of the total—are currently closed or out of use due to a lack of funding and chronic staff shortages, meaning that fewer patients are able to access the end of life care that they need at one of the most vulnerable times in their lives.
My hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) mentioned the Marie Curie report, as did other Members across the House, which stated that one in four people who need hospice care cannot currently get it. The term “bed blocking” is not one I am particularly comfortable with, but if adequate palliative care is unavailable in the community or in a hospice, those people will remain stuck in hospital, and those hospitals cannot provide the expert care that a hospice can. Our hospices are ready and willing to take on those patients, but they need the support of this Government to do so.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler), who brought forward this debate, said, people do not want to die in hospital. They want to die at home or in a specialised setting such as a hospice. That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling for hospices to be exempted from the rise in national insurance contributions. This targeted measure would provide immediate relief for a sector that is struggling under the weight of rising costs, and prevent further reductions in capacity or even closures.
We must think long term. Hospices need a sustainable funding model that guarantees they can continue their vital work of providing care for patients, supporting families and easing the pressure on the NHS. Hospices must also be a part of the conversation in the Government’s upcoming 10-year plan for the NHS, and that must include sustainable hospice funding reform. Examples from across the House today showed a shared recognition of the importance of hospice care. Now we need the Government to match that recognition with action for the patients, for the families and for a health service that depends on hospices.
Independent Water Commission
Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Jess Brown-Fuller(3 months ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
I will try to get in as many people as I can, so can we please keep the questions and answers as snappy as possible?
Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)
The statement from the Secretary of State is welcome, but passionate campaigners in my constituency will be concerned that, when we already know the dire state of our rivers and water courses, a review will potentially push the can down the road and delay the changes that we so desperately need. Will the commission set a deadline by which water companies have to prevent all sewage discharges in sensitive sites, including chalk streams such as the Lavant and Ems in my constituency?
Budget Responsibility Bill
Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Jess Brown-FullerTuesday 30th July 2024
(5 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is wonderful to see you take your place in the Chair.
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Southend West and Leigh (David Burton-Sampson), who spoke passionately about his constituency and about embracing all that we have in common rather than that which divides us. It was interesting to hear that he lives in the seventh sunniest place. I look forward to coming back to that point later in my speech.
It is an honour to address the Chamber as the newly elected Member of Parliament for the beautiful Chichester constituency. The constituency underwent some boundary changes for this general election, so I would like to start by thanking the two predecessors who represented the residents I now serve.
Gillian Keegan was the MP for Chichester from 2017, and was the first female MP to represent the constituency. She served as Secretary of State for Education and proudly championed apprenticeships, and the opportunity that her own apprenticeship afforded her, after growing up in Knowsley in Liverpool and leaving school at 16. She was well liked by the Conservative party and across the House, and, although our politics are different, I wish her well in her future endeavours.
I also wish to pay tribute to Nick Gibb, the Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton from 1997. Both Bersted and Pagham residents mentioned to me on the doorstep during the last few months that he was a popular MP who had served his constituents well, which no doubt added to their frustration when they realised that they were moving to be part of the Chichester constituency, when their hearts belonged with Bognor Regis. I would like to take this opportunity to reassure those residents that my love for the area in which I have grown up knows no bounds. I say to residents from Bersted to Bosham, Selsey to Southbourne, Westbourne to the Witterings, Fishbourne to Funtington, and all the other areas that did not fit within my poor attempt at alliteration: I will champion you all.
Madam Deputy Speaker, today is the final day in the Chamber before recess. I have no doubt that MPs will be rushing back to their constituencies to spend every possible moment there, but if they do manage to steal away for a long weekend, then I relish the opportunity to be a tour guide for a brief moment and tell them why a weekend in Chichester is a weekend well spent. Although my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) has already laid claim to the glory of representing the sunniest town in the UK, Chichester boasts the high accolade of being the sunniest city, with just under 2,000 hours of sunshine per year—and that is not the only way in which this glorious city punches above its weight.
Hon. Members will not be short of things to do, with beautiful coastline, sailing opportunities at Bosham, Dell Quay, Itchenor and Birdham and the sandy beach of West Wittering, as well as a plethora of cultural offerings, from the internationally renowned Chichester Festival theatre to the Pallant House and Oxmarket galleries, the Novium museum and Fishbourne Roman palace, and even a spot of racing—both cars and horses—at the Goodwood racecourse. They could easily spend an afternoon soaking up the history of the city surrounded by Roman walls, immersed in nature at Pagham harbour or Medmerry reserve, or following the River Lavant, a precious chalk stream.
I would not be forgiven, especially by the head of department, if I did not mention the excellent University of Chichester, where I had the pleasure of obtaining my degree. We are also the birthplace of notable figures such as the astronaut Tim Peake and the singer-songwriter Tom Odell, and we are home to Kate Winslet and authors Greg and Kate Mosse.
You can understand, Madam Deputy Speaker, why my very special constituency is a desirable location for those looking to relocate. It is an area with so much to offer. However, with the majority of the district sitting within the South Downs national park, 100% of the housing allocation is built on only 20% of the land, with a lack of infrastructure surrounding those developments and residents reporting a real struggle to get a doctor’s appointment, sign up with an NHS dentist, find school places that can meet their children’s needs or simply travel from A to B through the traffic on the A27.
As we are a low-lying coastal plain, many communities are also subjected to relentless flooding following developments on floodplains and a lack of maintenance on the rife. I am sure that those in the Chamber will appreciate how important water quality is to many industries, including tourism, fishing, water sports and sailing. It therefore pains me to say that some of the most active storm overflows are in my constituency and that Chichester harbour, which is a site of special scientific interest, has been downgraded to an unfavourable declining condition.
The River Lavant has warning signs along its bed, encouraging residents to wash their hands if they come into contact with the water, and those who enjoy cold water swimming in our water are weighing up its health benefits against how regularly they become ill from doing so. Trust in our water companies and the regulator is at an all-time low. The Liberal Democrats have called for measures to address an issue that is a blight on constituencies such as mine.
The average house price in Chichester is an eye-watering £455,000, and residents regularly express dismay at their increasing rents and mortgages after the disastrous mini-Budget. They are trying to make progress in their lives, but are being pulled back under the immense strain of increasing cost pressures. I welcome the Budget Responsibility Bill, which commits to responsible economic governance to go towards ensuring that what we saw in the last Parliament never happens again.
Finally, I pay tribute to those who supported me to be here, standing in this Chamber addressing my colleagues. I thank my wonderful husband Dean, my son Oliver and my daughter Bethany for their understanding and support, which has spanned far longer than this campaign. They are my inspiration, and I am fighting for their future as well as that of every child in this country. I also thank my mum, who joins us in the Gallery—I am not going to look at her; I have just realised I cannot. She had been so looking forward to retiring in May this year, only to be thrust days later into a general election campaign, knocking on doors with me, delivering leaflets and being my childcare. She was fully behind me in trying to achieve the unachievable, because Chichester had had a Conservative MP since 1868, except for a brief spell in 1923 when it flirted with Liberalism for just 12 months.
On 4 July, residents went to the polling stations and voted for change, whether they were traditional Conservative voters or Labour and Green voters lending me their support. We made political history that night. I recognise the weight of responsibility on my shoulders to do every single one of those people proud and to represent the area in which I had the pleasure of growing up. It is a privilege and an honour. I will fight for my special patch of our great country every day.