Access to Primary Healthcare

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dr Johnson]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I have talked about the challenges the NHS faces. I will come shortly to the achievements of the Labour Government so far in the Department of Health and Social Care.

Turning back to technology, I was saying that I agree with the Secretary of State on how technology can improve NHS services. Over the last few years, in my professional capacity, I have seen improvements in making communication between primary and secondary care and within secondary care much more efficient. As a patient, I have used the askmyGP service, which is an excellent way to communicate with a GP, particularly for working people. I have also used the NHS app, which millions of people have downloaded and which has huge potential. I hope he intends to build on that potential and harness the benefit of AI for diagnostics in particular.

The Secretary of State and I also agree on the importance of prevention. It is vital to make the NHS accessible to those who need it, but it is even better if people stay healthy in the first place. Before the election, he was supportive of measures to protect children from the dangers of vaping—measures I campaigned for actively. In fact, he was quite critical that it had not been done sooner, as in some respects was I. Given that the legislation has already been written and that it passed both Second Reading and Committee stage with the support of his friends on the Labour Benches, why is it taking him so long to produce a tobacco and vapes Bill? Can he guarantee that he will deliver it, like a present, in time for Christmas—for clarity, I am hoping for this Christmas?

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

Have you been naughty or nice?

[Dr Johnson]

I have been a good girl, thank you, Secretary of State.

Furthermore, can the Secretary of State explain how cancelling dozens of new hospitals will reduce pressure on general practice? Can he explain how cutting the winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners will help the NHS? The End Fuel Poverty Coalition predicts that Labour’s winter fuel payment cut will result in an additional 262,000 pensioners needing NHS treatment because they are cold, resulting in a great deal of suffering and millions of pounds of additional cost to the NHS. Does he agree with that assessment? I have asked repeatedly, in both oral and written questions, if the Government will conduct a proper impact assessment of the policy on the NHS and on the wellbeing of vulnerable older people. Will he commit to producing and publishing such as report?

Further on the issue of prevention, the right hon. Gentleman will know that folic acid supplementation can prevent neural tube disorders, such as spina bifida and anencephaly. The previous Government brought forward regulations on the matter. What conversations has the Secretary of State had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs about ensuring that that work is continued?

Our approach to dentistry was also underlined by prevention. We introduced the Health and Care Act 2022, which gave the Secretary of State the power to introduce water fluoridation schemes. Those powers have since been used to extend existing schemes, particularly in the north-east of England. Does the Secretary of State intend to continue that work and exercise the powers the previous Government gave him? He knows that I am passionate about dentistry. I have raised the issue many times in the House, including by securing an Adjournment debate on dentistry in Lincolnshire. It troubles me greatly that children are coming to hospital for multiple dental extractions due to rotten teeth. It is worth noting that the issue is not a shortage of dentists overall or, as the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) says, a shortage of money, but a shortage of dentists doing NHS work rather than private work specifically.

The previous Government were encouraging dentists to take up NHS work with a range of measures, including golden hellos for dentists in underserved areas, dental vans going out to rural communities, and tie-ins for new dental graduates. We were also in the process of broader contract reform after a small change in the units of dental activity rate when we went into the election. Let us look at Labour-run Wales in comparison. Wales is delivering only 58% of pre-pandemic dental activity. It is burdened with the highest proportion of NHS dental practices not accepting adult patients and the longest waiting lists in the UK. One in four Welsh residents is currently on a waiting list. The new Secretary of State for Wales has said that the Government “will take inspiration from” Labour-run Wales on dentistry. Given their woeful record in office, I sincerely hope that that is not the case.

Before the election, when I listened to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care say that Labour had a plan to reform and modernise the NHS, I believed him, but in Monday’s debate on the Lord Darzi report, we uncovered that his plan was not really a plan at all, but a list of desired outcomes and a proposal to make a plan if he got into office. It is unclear how long this plan will take to develop. The Minister for Secondary Care said that it is a listening exercise like we have never seen before, but how much will that cost, and had Labour not been listening already?