NHS: Winter Preparedness

Sarah Coombes Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

Two things: first, we will certainly give serious consideration to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy)—the JCVI will do that in the usual way, and we follow its advice —and secondly, resident doctors have been to work in previous rounds of strikes, and I have not been made aware of bullying or intimidation of them. Of course, that should not be happening, and if it does, my priority will be protecting doctors who are doing the right thing. My expectation is that no one will be intimidated for making the moral and ethical judgment that going to work is the right thing to do by patients, by their colleagues and by the NHS this Christmas.

[Sarah Coombes (West Bromwich) (Lab)]

The Government were elected to pick the NHS up off its knees, and that is exactly what we are doing by putting tens of billions extra into the NHS—that includes giving a 28.9% pay rise to doctors. That money is delivering a 20% reduction in NHS waiting lists in my area. However, despite that progress, families are worried by the spectre of these strikes and a surge in super flu. I know that the Secretary of State is working flat-out to support the NHS. Families in Sandwell can support the NHS at this time by taking up a vaccine, but what more can they do to support it?

[Wes Streeting]

People can check their eligibility for a vaccine online or via the NHS app. They can and should seek to protect themselves. If people need healthcare, they should seek to access it. I do not want people to be deterred unnecessarily by strike action. It is important that people get the right care in the right place. Unless it is an accident or an emergency, the best thing to do is to call 111; from there, patients will be directed to the most appropriate service.

My hon. Friend is right about the progress that we are making with the NHS since coming into office. That is one of the many reasons I am so disappointed by the BMA’s action. This is lose-lose: it is bad for the NHS, and therefore for patients, and it leaves doctors working in poorer conditions for longer than I, they and the country would want.

Income Tax (Charge)

Sarah Coombes Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Coombes (West Bromwich) (Lab)]

For too long, our economy has not worked for West Bromwich—low wages, low growth, broken public services, families unable to make ends meet and our huge potential going unfulfilled. That was the legacy of the Conservative Government, and that is why the country voted for change. Last week, finally, we saw a Budget that turns the page.

I would like to thank the Chancellor for this historic Budget and talk about three things: how it looks after the finances of families in West Brom, how it gets our public services back on their feet, and how it will turbocharge growth in the west midlands. Last week, Labour’s Budget looked after ordinary families in West Brom. During the election, we promised that we would not put up taxes on working people—a promise that we have kept. Carers were being trapped in poverty by the weekly earnings limit, so we have raised it. Young people were doing the same work for less pay, so we are changing that. Perhaps most significantly of all, 12,000 workers on the minimum wage in Sandwell will receive a £1,400 pay rise next year. That is the difference that the Labour Budget makes.

The Budget was also for public services and, critically, our NHS. In West Brom, our GP satisfaction rate is 15% below the national average. We have 80,000 people waiting for a hospital appointment and, absolutely scandalously, life expectancy in my area has been falling over the last 10 years. The Conservatives spent a decade destroying the NHS and now it falls to us to rebuild it.

Last week, our Labour Chancellor gave the NHS a cash injection that will deliver 40,000 extra appointments a week, state-of-the-art new equipment, and support for our NHS staff, who have been pushed to breaking point. All that is futile without reform, and earlier the Secretary of State set out how we will achieve that. But the people of West Bromwich know that if we want a well functioning and modern NHS, we have to pay for it. We have made difficult decisions to do that.

I finish by highlighting that the Budget was fantastic for the west midlands. It will support manufacturing jobs in the automotive industry, which is so important to the region. It secured the future of HS2 to Euston because people do not want to get on at Birmingham and off at Old Oak Common. It funded the extension of the metro to Brierley Hill and gives our Mayor, Richard Parker, a funding settlement for good bus services and local projects that will make a difference. Under a Labour Government, West Bromwich is going to see the change that my constituents voted for. I am proud that my party has delivered a Budget that fixes the foundations, protects ordinary people and rebuilds our NHS.