NHS 10-Year Plan

Debate between Wes Streeting and Kevin McKenna

Thursday 3rd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

Yes, I certainly can. The proposals we are consulting on represent an important step towards the fundamental reform to the dental contract that we committed to in our manifesto, and that will begin this year. There are no perfect payment models. Careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes in a complex dental system so that we deliver genuine improvements for patients and the profession, but we are committed to working with the British Dental Association. The Minister for Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Aberafan Maesteg (Stephen Kinnock), is working hard to fix the mess left by the previous Government.

[Kevin McKenna (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Lab)]

On behalf of the small and often oppressed community of health policy geeks, I thank the Secretary of State for giving us a Christmas present in July—I will be pressing Ctrl+F through it all weekend. I also really thank him and his team for threading through this plan a real commitment to the quality of work for the NHS workforce. I can see already some really strong, concrete suggestions for how we can make the working lives of people in the NHS better. Most importantly of all, people in Sittingbourne and Sheppey are really glad to see that the idea of a neighbourhood health service is well fleshed out. Again, with a health policy geek hat on, we know it is the funding and the funding models that really matter, so I really commend the review of the funding formula, particularly towards rural and coastal communities. How will the Secretary of State ensure that with this new funding formula, he and his team at the centre will keep a tight grip on what happens at ICB and other levels closer to the ground to ensure that that funding gets to the areas with the most need?

[Wes Streeting]

I am so grateful to my hon. Friend for his support; as he implies, he brings so much expertise to this place. As we embark in this brave new world of devolution of power, resources and control, we keep a close eye on outcomes. I am counting on local communities, Members of Parliament, mayors, councils and local authorities also to ensure that we have democratic accountability and oversight to ensure the resources we provide are spent to the best effect and have a real impact. I pay tribute to the policy geeks of the world in health and social care for their contribution to this 10-year plan. Health geeks of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!

NHS England Update

Debate between Wes Streeting and Kevin McKenna

Thursday 13th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. That is the objective of what we are doing: to make better use of taxpayers’ money so that we can deliver better care for patients. That is not through bloated central bureaucracy, but through more frontline capability and services.

[Kevin McKenna (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Lab)]

I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Of the more than 26 years that I worked in the NHS, six and a half were in NHS England, in its brilliant strategy team and with brilliant people. That is why my heart goes out to so many people who will have insecurity about their jobs following this announcement, even though I believe it to be the right one. This comes after years and years of chopping and changing at NHS Improvement and NHS England, as political leadership has switched from one person to another.

One of the things I am concerned about is the need to ensure that clinical leadership is still heard at the centre. As a nurse, I found it harder to get into NHS England. Doctors find it easier in their career structures. Moving NHS England functions into the Department, and moving off NHS terms and conditions, will make it harder for nurses, allied health professionals and other clinicians working in the NHS. What will my right hon. Friend do to ensure that the clinical voice comes right into the centre of Whitehall, along with the patient voice?

[Wes Streeting]

I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend, and I echo what he said about the talents of people at NHS England. I did not take this decision with the Prime Minister lightly. Indeed, it was not my instinct coming into government, but it has been shaped by what I have seen and experienced over the past eight months. Clinical leadership is vital, and that is not just doctors; it is also nurses and other clinical leadership. We have a brilliant chief nursing officer, who remains in place and will be part of that clinical leadership team. I can assure my hon. Friend that we do not want any political interference in what should be decisions for clinicians. What we need is the right political leadership to give that clinical leadership the tools, power and freedom to do the job that only they can do, and that they do best.

Health and Social Care: Winter Update

Debate between Wes Streeting and Kevin McKenna

Wednesday 15th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I welcome the hon. Member’s question, and I agree with the thrust of his question that we need healthcare to shift from hospital into the community, with care closer to, and in, people’s homes. The configuration of services locally is a matter for local NHS leaders. I encourage him in the first instance to be in touch with his local integrated care board. If he gets a particularly unsatisfactory or unreasonable answer, he should feel free to raise it with Ministers.

[Kevin McKenna (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Lab)]

I associate myself with the comments about the nursing colleague who was so brutally attacked in Oldham. I am thinking of her and her team at this time.

I have been thinking back to when I was starting out as a junior nurse. We faced the same problem—it was just after Labour had taken over from a Conservative Government, and the backwash of winter crises caused by that failed Government was very similar in the first few years. Improving staff pay and the NHS plan made a difference. What else has my right hon. Gentleman learned from the successes of his forebears about tackling this winter crisis now and tackling such crises in future?

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend brings expertise and experience to the House, and I am particularly grateful for his support and concern for the colleagues of the nurse who was so brutally attacked in Oldham, because I know that they will be acutely affected. In fact, the NHS workforce right across the country will have felt the shiver down the spine that I felt when I read about that horrific case.

My hon. Friend is right that I am fortunate to be able to call on every single one of my Labour predecessors, from Alan Milburn to Andy Burnham, to ask for their advice, experience and insight. As our great late friend John Prescott said, we need

“traditional values in a modern setting”.

I am bringing that modernising tradition to our approach to investment and reform, because the combination of both delivers results. That is how the last Labour Government delivered the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Wes Streeting and Kevin McKenna

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I call Kevin McKenna to ask the final question.

[Kevin McKenna (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Lab)]

I strongly welcome yesterday’s announcement about using initiatives such as community diagnostic centres to move services closer to the public. In the Isle of Sheppey, we are particularly exposed as a coastal community, but thankfully a new CDC will really help. Unfortunately, my experience in the NHS over the past few years shows that while the previous Government talked the talk about shifting care to the community, they failed to deliver. Will the Secretary of State set out what steps will be taken, so I can show my constituents that this shift will actually happen?

[Wes Streeting]

I am delighted to have my hon. Friend and his experience in the House, standing up for his community and giving us his advice and wisdom as we develop our 10-year plan. We are already walking the talk on the shift to community, not least through the big uplift in funding for general practice announced before Christmas. Many people assume our elective reform plan is just about hospital waiting lists, but a big part of it is about delivering the left shift by asking and funding general practice to do more to manage patients in the community.