Oral Answers to Questions

Priti Patel Excerpts

Tuesday 5th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Dame Andrea Leadsom]

My hon. Friend is right; it is appalling that people book an appointment and then do not show up. In many GP surgeries now they post the numbers of patients who do not turn up for their appointments and urge people to make the effort to cancel. As part of our access to primary care, we are creating digital tools so that GP surgeries can notify patients that they have an upcoming appointment and say, “If you don’t need it, press here and it will cancel the appointment.” Measures such as that make it easier for people to cancel, but he is quite right that it is incumbent on us all, if we book that appointment, to turn up for it.

[Priti Patel (Witham) (Con)]

7. What funding her Department is providing to help tackle health inequalities in Essex.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

9. What steps she is taking to help reduce health inequalities.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Victoria Atkins)]

I am pleased to reiterate to my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel) that Essex is receiving funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, to promote research into health inequalities and support better health outcomes for her constituents and all residents in Essex.

[Priti Patel]

I thank the Secretary of State for her response and welcome her to her new role; it is a real pleasure to see her in her position today. My Witham constituents have one of the highest patient-GP ratios in the country. That brings many challenges in accessing the NHS, from primary care to dentistry, social care and hospital appointments, some of which have been exacerbated by industrial action. Will she give an update on the work she is leading to address some of those issues and will she support my work and campaign locally to get a new primary health centre in Witham town?

[Victoria Atkins]

I thank my right hon. Friend very much for her kind words. She will remember how much I enjoyed sitting on the Front Bench alongside her when we were in the Home Office. In terms of her work in Essex, she is a formidable campaigner and she will know that the decision on such a healthcare centre lies with her integrated care board, to which the Government have given some £183 million of capital funding between 2022 and 2025. I am sure she will make a compelling case to the ICB for such a centre in her constituency. Interestingly, the Mid and South Essex integrated care board is one of seven sites receiving additional support and funding from NHS England to address health inequalities, and I know she will pay close attention to how that is spent.

--- Later in debate ---

[Victoria Atkins]

As I said earlier, careful thought has gone into the announcements that were made in the autumn statement, and of course I will work with the Secretary of State and the Chancellor to ensure that the commitments we already have to people living with disabilities are maintained, and that we have their wellbeing at the heart of all our policy making.

[Priti Patel (Witham) (Con)]

T4. The Secretary of State’s predecessor took a strong interest in the deaths that took place in the Essex mental health trusts, and a statutory inquiry is now taking place. Will she meet me and our Essex colleagues, and the families, to discuss that important inquiry, so that they can have justice for the loved ones they have lost?

[Victoria Atkins]

I would be very pleased to meet my right hon. Friend, the families and other Essex MPs to discuss that important inquiry.