NHS: Winter Preparedness Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Robin Swann
Main Page: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)Department Debates - View all Robin Swann's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
NHS: Winter Preparedness
Robin Swann Excerpts(1 day, 19 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Wes Streeting
Yes. The JCVI makes evidence-based recommendations, and we follow its evidence. With the best will in the world, we of course give out practical, common-sense advice, but we should not infantilise our constituents. They are perfectly capable of working out who can get together this Christmas. They really do not need Government Ministers to start issuing directions about who can get round the table for Christmas dinner and who can get together in the days after. In the exchanges we have in this House there is sometimes a degree of patronising of the British people. They really, really do not need us. They really do not need our advice on the seating plan at Christmas dinner; what they need is for NHS services to be there when they need them, and that is what the Government are focused on.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
I commend the Secretary of State for his action to try to prevent industrial action. Nye Bevan had his own challenges with the BMA.
The covid inquiry made a number of recommendations with regard to co-ordination and preparedness across all four nations. What interaction has the Secretary of State had with the devolved nations in respect of this wave of flu, RSV and access to vaccinations?
Wes Streeting
I speak regularly with my counterparts, and the Ministers who are either side of me this afternoon have been engaging with our counterparts in recent weeks on these issues. We have a good relationship with devolved Administrations, regardless of party or where they sit across the United Kingdom, and that is a good thing.
As for the history of Labour Governments’ interactions with the NHS, that is not lost on me. The BMA marched against the NHS. It may be the case that the BMA does not really feel it needs the NHS—the BMA will be all right regardless—but my constituents cannot afford private healthcare, let alone earn money working in it. We will do everything we can to save the NHS, get it back on its feet and ensure that it is fit for the future. It is the only NHS our country has ever had and, compared with all the alternatives, I would not give up on a publicly funded public service—owned by us and there for all of us—for anything.