Oral Answers
Debate between Sara Britcliffe and Helen Whately(1 year, 7 months ago)
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Sara Britcliffe (Hyndburn) (Con)
One of my constituents, Bethany Whitehead, suffers from functional neurological disorder, which often presents with a number of debilitating symptoms. Bethany has often been left waiting two to three years before seeing a consultant. Will the Minister meet me to discuss this further?
The Minister for Social Care (Helen Whately)
My hon. Friend makes a really important point. I can say to her here and now that functional neurological disorder was previously regarded through a diagnosis of exclusion. It now has a rule-in diagnosis with available treatments, which is a major step forward in destigmatising the disorder. I am very happy to meet her to discuss this further.
NHS Staff Pay
Debate between Sara Britcliffe and Helen Whately(3 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Helen Whately
The hon. Lady talks about the NHS workforce. One of the fabulous things we have seen throughout the pandemic—I am really grateful to all those who work in the NHS for this—is a reduction in the leaver rates, so more people are staying and sticking with the NHS, which is truly phenomenal. We have to make sure we look after those people, and I talked earlier about some of the support for the NHS workforce as we recover. It is also fabulous to see such extra interest in careers in the NHS; for instance, over a third more people are applying to become nursing students this year compared with last year. I also want to make this point on the test and trace question: it is not either test and trace or the NHS workforce. We need to have a test and trace system, and, of course, pay our NHS workforce.
Sara Britcliffe (Hyndburn) (Con)
I had several bits of correspondence about NHS pay over the weekend. Can my hon. Friend confirm whether any decision has been made specifically about nurses’ pay and what the total allocation for NHS pay rises is in the Budget? Will she ensure that those on lower pay bands are prioritised in any pay awards?
Helen Whately
I thank my hon. Friend very much for her question. Nurses are just a part of the workforce being considered in the pay review, which involves over 1 million staff. About 300,000 of those are nurses. The cost of a 1% pay rise is about three quarters of a billion pounds, but we will absolutely look at the recommendations from the pay review bodies when they come through later in the spring.