Health and Care Bill

Debate between Richard Holden and Matt Warman

Report stage
Tuesday 23rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Warman (Boston and Skegness) (Con)]

I will be brief, Mr Deputy Speaker. I should declare that I am married to a doctor.

Staff are the No. 1 priority for the health service, and have been historically for this Government, so I will support the Government today, but somewhat through gritted teeth. I implore the Minister to include a few things in his 15-year review. I ask him to engage with the feeling of staff, which we have all heard about: if there are fundamentally not enough staff within the system, it is impossible for them to feel that they can do the job they went into medicine to do as well as they possibly can. I know his plans in this 15-year review will address some of that, but I hope he will also address the fact that there is a huge role to play for technology and for the increasing integration between health and social care. If more patients are stuck in hospitals because they cannot be sent on to the social care system, then we need more doctors to staff those hospitals.

I hope the Minister will consider those multiple facets in the review, and also consider that perhaps more important than anything else is how we retain staff. Even if we are putting more and more people into the beginning of a career pipeline, we will never be able to fill up that pipeline sufficiently if people, whether for pension-related reasons or a whole host of other reasons, are leaving more rapidly than we currently imagine they will in the planning.

That retention aspect has to be a hugely important part of the review. I hope that the possibility of addressing all those multiple factors will be core to what the Minister has been talking about. As others have said, I also hope he will be as transparent as possible within that, and that he or his Department will come to the House to make those plans transparent. Fifteen years is good, and transcends the political horizon that so often derails good intentions for the NHS, but the more transparent we can be, and the more support we can give to recruitment, retention, technology, social care and a host of other issues, the less my teeth will be gritted as I support the Government today.

[Mr Holden]

I shall keep my comments very brief. I apologise to the Minister for not having been here for his speech, because I was with one of his colleagues in my constituency earlier today.

I welcome what the Government are doing today in new clauses 36 to 48. There has been a huge campaign for a long time by people from so many different organisations, particularly Natasha Rattu of Karma Nirvana, Sara Browne and Payzee Mahmood from IKWRO, Halaleh Taheri and Natasha Feroze at the Middle Eastern Women and Society Organisation, Rosie Walworth and Zoe Russell from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who have worked closely with me over the past few months, Janet Fyle from the Royal College of Midwives, barristers Dr Charlotte Proudman and Naomi Wiseman and consultant gynaecologist Dr Ashfaq Khan, who did some excellent briefing for us in earlier stages of the process. I also thank Adam Mellows-Facer and Huw Yardley from the Public Bill Office, who did some excellent work with my office manager, Robbie Lammas, who has kept going on this throughout.

I am pleased that the Government are coming forward with the amendments on virginity testing today. I particularly welcome the fact that they are UK-wide and have had support from scores of Members, including the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney), the former Health Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Jeremy Hunt), and many other hon. Members from across the House who I can see here today.

It is excellent that the Government have listened so much and responded so thoroughly. I would like to hear the Minister talk about new clause 22, which I tabled today, on hymenoplasty. I know we are on Report, but I want his assurance that, if all goes well, we should see those amendments to this Bill in the House of Peers before too long. It is vital that banning hymenoplasty and banning virginity testing go hand in hand.