The Minister for Health (Edward Argar) Madam Deputy Speaker, with
permission, I would like to make a statement on the work we are
doing to keep our country safe this winter. Today, we have
published our health and social care approach to winter. This shows
the preparations we are making so that health and social care
services remain resilient, joined up and available to patients over
the coming months, and it sets out what actions the public can
take. As this plan shows, we are...Request free trial
The Minister for Health ()
Madam Deputy Speaker, with permission, I would like to make a
statement on the work we are doing to keep our country safe this
winter. Today, we have published our health and social care
approach to winter. This shows the preparations we are making so
that health and social care services remain resilient, joined up
and available to patients over the coming months, and it sets out
what actions the public can take. As this plan shows, we are also
doing everything in our power to give our NHS what it needs and
keep it standing strong this winter, including through our plans
to recruit more staff, give greater support to the NHS workforce
and bolster capacity across urgent and emergency care. For
example, the NHS has given ambulance trusts an extra £55 million
to boost staff numbers this winter; there is nearly half a
billion to fund an enhanced discharge programme; and we have
measures to reduce pressure on accident and emergency
departments, reduce waiting times and improve patient flow.
This document comes ahead of a critical winter for our NHS. We
face the challenge of fighting covid-19, and the new omicron
variant, along with the other challenges, such as flu, that
winter can bring. We are doing everything we can to strengthen
our vital defences. One of our main defences is, of course, our
vaccination programmes, and we are expanding our booster
programme, which hit the milestone of 19 million doses yesterday,
along with delivering the largest flu vaccination programme in UK
history. Yesterday, we announced how we will be buying a total of
114 million additional Pfizer and Moderna doses for 2022 and
2023, which will future-proof our Great British vaccination
effort and make sure we can protect even more people in the years
ahead. Another defence is antivirals, and it was fantastic news
that yesterday another covid-19 treatment was approved by the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, after it was
found to be safe and effective at reducing the risk of
hospitalisation and death in people with mild to moderate
covid-19 infection.
Just as we tackle the virus, we are also tackling what the virus
has brought with it. The pandemic has put unprecedented pressure
on the NHS and led to a backlog for elective care. To fix this,
the NHS needs to be able to offer more appointments, operations
and treatments, and we need to adopt new, innovative ways of
working so patients keep getting the best possible care. We are
determined to maximise the capacity of the NHS to keep elective
services going over the winter months so that people can keep
getting routine treatments such as hip surgery and diagnostic
tests. Today, I am pleased to update the House on the £700
million fund that we announced in September for elective
recovery. This transformative funding, which is being split
across all regions in England, will support 785 schemes across
187 hospital trusts. It will help reduce waiting times for
patients by providing more operating theatres and beds, and
greater capacity for our NHS. Today, we have published the
regional breakdown for this funding, which was allocated on a
fair basis, according to weighted population, to make sure there
was an equitable spread across the country. This includes £112
million for the north-east and Yorkshire, £131 million for the
midlands and £97 million for the north-west. At least £330
million will be invested in the NHS estate and a further £250
million will be spent on digital initiatives that aid elective
recovery. Over £600 million from this fund has already been
committed to approved bids, such as for new wards at University
Hospitals Birmingham, a new South Mersey elective hub and a new,
modular unit in Castle Hill Hospital in Hull. This investment
will have a huge impact, and this is the beginning not the end of
our investment, as we are continuing to identify and assess
submitted bids for investment in the remainder of this financial
year. It is part of £5.4 billion that we have announced to
support the NHS response to the pandemic in the second half of
the year and it builds on the work done ahead of last winter,
where we invested £450 million to upgrade A&E facilities in
over 120 separate trusts, to boost capacity. This is a Government
who back the NHS. Ahead of what will be a testing winter This is
a Government who back the NHS. Ahead of what will be a testing
winter, we are putting everything behind our health and care
services, so everyone can access the services they need when they
need them.
I conclude by urging everyone to play their part this winter by
taking simple steps that can help our NHS. People should get the
jabs they need for flu and covid-19 when the time comes, and
should follow the rules that we have put in place. If they do
that, we can protect not only the NHS but the progress that we
have all made. I commend the statement to the House.
11:05:00
(Ilford North) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. I pay
enormous tribute to my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the
Member for Leicester South (), who did a tremendous
job as Labour’s longest-serving shadow Health and Social Care
Secretary and worked constructively with the Government in
response to the pandemic’s challenges. I intend to do the
same.
In that spirit, I welcome this week’s announcements on the
vaccine and booster roll-outs. I know from my own experience this
year of kidney cancer and covid that some of the best people in
our country work in health and social care. They are at the heart
of my response.
NHS waiting lists stand at almost 6 million. Almost one in 10
people in England waits months or even years, often in serious
pain and discomfort, because the Government have failed to get a
grip on the crisis. Everyone understands that we are in the midst
of a global pandemic that has placed the NHS under unprecedented
pressure, but that does not excuse or explain why we went into
the pandemic with NHS waiting lists at record levels and with
unprecedented staff shortages.
Ministers want people to believe that the winter crisis is simply
the result of the challenges of covid, but in reality, the entire
health and social care system has been left dangerously exposed
by their choices throughout the last 11 years. Before the
pandemic, there were waiting lists of 4.5 million, staff
shortages of 100,000 and social care vacancies of 112,000. This
week, the National Audit Office detailed starkly that things are
set to get even worse, with waiting lists set to double in three
years.
Ministers cannot possibly believe that what we have been given
today is a credible plan to meet those enormous challenges. If it
were a genuine plan to prepare for the winter, why has it arrived
on 3 December? A serious plan to bring down waiting lists would
have the workforce at its heart, and would have clear targets and
deadlines. A serious plan would recognise that, unless we focus
on prevention, early intervention and fixing the social care
crisis, Ministers have no chance of bringing waiting lists down
to the record low levels we saw under the last Labour
Government.
That Government had a serious plan to reduce waiting lists with
45,000 more doctors, 89,000 more nurses and the biggest
hospital-building programme in our country’s history. The
programme of investment, reform and clear targets delivered a
decrease in waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks. Although
bricks and mortar and technology are important, and we do not
sniff at the investment the Minister has outlined, the central
challenge of the NHS winter crisis is a shortage of professional
staff.
A credible plan to tackle the NHS winter crisis, which was
foreseeable and foreseen, would have been published long before 3
December. Without a serious strategy to build the health and
social care workforce that we need, this plan is not a plan at
all.
I join the shadow Secretary of State in paying tribute to his
predecessor, the right hon. Member for Leicester South (), who is my near
neighbour in Leicestershire. Although we may have occasionally
crossed swords across the Dispatch Box, he is a deeply honourable
and decent man. I also take the opportunity to pay tribute to the
hon. Member for Leicester West (), who is planning to take maternity leave in due
course. She is a doughty champion for social care and the sector.
I know that she will be much missed in her time away from the
Dispatch Box.
I genuinely congratulate the hon. Member for Ilford North () on his post, although after that response, I do so
with a degree of trepidation about what we might have in store
for us in the months ahead from him challenging us—quite rightly.
He is extremely diligent in all the roles he performs, so I
welcome him to a challenging but fantastic role.
I will be relatively brief in my answers, because I am conscious
that Fridays are for private Members’ Bills and private Members’
speeches. We brought the statement to the House because we
believe it is important, given that it is going to the media,
that we give the House an opportunity to question it.
The shadow Secretary of State was right to pay tribute to the
workforce—the social care workforce and the health workforce, as
well as all the other key workers who have helped get us to where
we are in this pandemic. The workforce are the golden thread that
runs through our NHS and through social care. Buildings and
technology are important, but they are, essentially, the tools
that the workforce use to provide that vital patient care.
We have a clear plan not only for winter, but for the recovery of
waiting list times and for driving down those waiting lists. Ours
is the party that has given the NHS record funding. Even before
the pandemic, we put the £33.9 billion increase into law: we said
we would do it, and we did do it. We are backing our NHS to give
it the tools that it needs.
One issue on which I agreed with the hon. Gentleman is
prevention. He is right: we need to look not only at the symptoms
and the consequences in treating people, but at prevention of
long-term and serious illness. He was also right in what he said
about fixing social care, but I would urge a bit of caution. In
13 years we had two Green Papers, one royal commission and the
2008 spending review, all of which were designed to fix the
social care problem. Result: nothing. This Government said they
would come forward with a plan, and have come forward with a
clear and coherent plan. I pay tribute to the Minister for Care
and Mental Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester
(), and indeed to her
predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Faversham and Mid Kent
(), for the work that they have
done in grappling with this very challenging issue.
The hon. Gentleman mentioned hospital buildings. Again, he was
right: we are building 40 new hospitals. I would, however, say to
him and to other Opposition Members that they should be very
careful when talking about this subject. We all know that one of
the biggest challenges we face with capital in our NHS is the
millstone of PFI debt around the necks of NHS trusts—private
finance initiative programmes put in place under the last Labour
Government. We are still paying for that.
I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his post, and I suspect that on
many occasions in the future we will have further such exchanges
across the Dispatch Boxes. I am sorry that on his first outing in
his new role he is facing me rather than the Secretary of State,
but it is a pleasure to be opposite him.
We’ve been given the best.
Charming as ever.
We are the party of our NHS. We are backing it with the resources
and support that it needs to get through this winter.
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
Order. I thank the Minister for his undertaking about brief
answers, and I urge Members to ask brief questions as well.
Otherwise we will not get everyone in, because we do need to
return to the private Member’s Bills.
(Harwich and North Essex)
(Con)
I thank my hon. Friend for his statement. Can he confirm that it
is the Government’s policy to encourage the reopening of mass
vaccination centres to get through the bulge of booster jabs that
we need? In that regard, will he congratulate the South Suffolk
& North East Essex integrated care system, which has once
again secured facilities at Harwich international port, and will
he thank the port for offering those facilities again? We are
hoping for a mass vaccination session on 19 and 20 December, and
further sessions in January. Is that not the way to take the
pressure off GPs?
Of course I join my hon. Friend in paying tribute not just to
Harwich port but to his local healthcare system, about which he
and I have spoken on many occasions. It does an amazing job: its
willingness to find innovative solutions to boost our booster
rates is exactly what we need to see. I commend everything that
his local trusts are doing.
(Wirral South) (Lab)
When my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West () and I spoke to social care professionals from the
Wirral last night, they made it clear that the crisis is not to
come; the crisis is right now. They have staff shortages, and
those in work are knackered and devastated at what is going on in
social care. My hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead () and I wrote to the Secretary
of State, but we have received no reply. Will the Minister go
back to the Department, obtain a reply to my letter, and tell me
now, today, what we are doing to secure more staff and better pay
in social care?
As the hon. Lady knows, I do not have responsibility for social
care. The Minister for Care and Mental Health is sitting next to
me and will have heard what she said and will take it back to the
Department to see whether a letter in response can be
expedited.
We are fixing the system for the long term, but my hon. Friend
the Minister has announced £162 million that is already going
into the bank accounts of organisations to help support the
social care workforce. The hon. Member for Wirral South () is right that we need
short-term support, but we also need a long-term solution. We are
putting the money in to support this vital sector.
(Birmingham, Northfield)
(Con)
I thank the Minister and the Government for the eight successful
bids into University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust,
which will see new wards opened and will go some way towards
helping our local NHS through the winter. What a stark contrast
that is with the Labour years. When the Queen Elizabeth Hospital
was built it was supposed to cost about £500 million, but that
has rolled into billions of pounds’ worth of private finance
initiative debt. Is that not the difference between us and the
Opposition?
My hon. Friend is a doughty champion for Birmingham and his local
trust. It is always a pleasure to announce more money going into
his trust, and he is right to highlight the Labour party’s record
on PFI.
(Orkney and Shetland)
(LD)
The question that will be asked by people in those parts of the
country where the ambulance service is already in crisis, such as
Cornwall and Shropshire, is: how quickly can they get this money?
We are three weeks from Christmas and we are already seeing a
crippling of the service in these areas. When will they see
improvement?
The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that ambulance
trusts across the country are under pressure, which is why they
have already been given an additional £55 million, well in
advance of this winter, to help them prepare for and manage the
pressures they are experiencing. This money is on top of that,
but they already have additional funding to help support them
through what will be a very challenging winter.
(Kensington) (Con)
This Government are investing an additional £34 billion in the
NHS this year alone. Does my hon. Friend agree that this money
needs to go to the frontline and that we need to ensure that we
get value for money?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for highlighting both the
investment and the need for us, as the custodians of the
taxpayer’s pound, to make sure that the money is well spent by
implementing innovation and reform so that it gets to the
frontline and delivers patient care, which is exactly what we are
doing.
(Rhondda) (Lab)
I have a sneaking suspicion that we will not get to the second
private Member’s Bill today, so I hope it is okay if I mention
that I am enormously grateful to the Government. The Secretary of
State for Health and Social Care has just texted me with the good
news that the Government and I, and all the charities, will be
working together on acquired brain injury. We will now have a
national strategy across all Departments. It is a miracle that
the Government have suggested that I should co-chair it with the
Minister for Care and Mental Health, because I can be very
irritating—[Laughter.] I see I have united the House. Seriously,
this is a really good day and I hope we will be able to make a
dramatic difference to the millions of people in this country who
have suffered an acquired brain injury. Answer that!
I have never found the hon. Gentleman to be irritating in any
way, and I have always enjoyed my interactions with him on a
range of issues. On a serious point, I pay tribute to him for his
campaigning work on this issue. It is a huge step forward, and I
know the insight he will bring, working with the Minister for
Care and Mental Health, will genuinely make this a strategy of
which we can all be proud. I congratulate him on his
achievement.
(Watford) (Con)
My constituents in Watford will no doubt welcome the £700 million
of funding detailed today to support the NHS this winter. Will my
right hon. Friend please confirm that the investment will
directly improve services for patients across the NHS? Will he
also share my thanks to Watford General Hospital and all its
staff for the fantastic work they continue to do at this
time?
I am not right hon., but I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the
promotion. Of course I pay tribute to the staff at Watford
General Hospital and, indeed, to him for his volunteering on the
frontline in that hospital trust during the pandemic. He is
absolutely right. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for
Kensington (), it is vital that this
money gets to the frontline and is used to improve patient care,
which is exactly what we intend to do.
(Nottingham South)
(Lab)
I am shocked and saddened by reports of a 23% increase in
physical assaults on staff in Nottinghamshire hospitals in the
past year, including 436 assaults on NHS workers in Nottingham
hospitals. As we head into the season of Christmas revelry and
hopefully responsible celebrations, will the Minister join me in
condemning this completely unacceptable violence, which should
never be part of any NHS worker’s job, and can he set out what he
is doing to prevent such assaults and to protect and support NHS
staff?
I am grateful to the hon. Lady; I had the pleasure some months
ago of visiting one of her local hospitals, where I had the
opportunity to speak to staff. They do an amazing job. No one,
irrespective of the role they perform, should be subject to
intimidation or violence in doing their job, still less those who
are working hard to save lives, to protect us and to get us
through this pandemic. I join with her entirely in condemning
both physical and verbal assaults on members of our emergency
services. I highlight the important legislation that went through
recently to increase the penalties, and pay tribute to those
responsible for getting it on the statute book—the hon. Member
for Rhondda () once again. No one,
absolutely no one, particularly in our emergency services, should
be subject to abuse of any sort while doing their job.
(Meon Valley) (Con)
GPs in Meon Valley are finding it difficult to recruit new GPs to
fill vacancies, and as a consequence are working very long hours.
Can the Minister ensure that some of the new money goes to
primary care and GPs in particular?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who rightly highlights the
hugely important contribution of GPs to our health system. We
continue to look at the best ways to support them, not only by
recruiting more GPs and supporting existing ones, but by
investing in general practice buildings to ensure they have the
tools to do the job.
(Hammersmith) (Lab)
My local hospitals, Hammersmith and Charing Cross, and their
staff are under huge pressure. Until two years ago, the
Government’s plan was to demolish Charing Cross hospital, so it
is a welcome U-turn that it and Hammersmith hospital are now in
the creatively titled 40 new hospitals programme. Leaving aside
the fact that Charing Cross has been around for more than 200
years and is thus not really a new hospital, all my constituents
want to know is how much investment there will be and when it
will finally arrive.
I have not yet had the privilege of visiting the hon. Gentleman’s
hospitals in this role; maybe at some point in the coming months,
perhaps when they are not quite so busy, I will do so with him—if
he will have me. We have committed to the investment, but it is
important that that investment programme is run as a programme,
with all the hospitals being looked at in terms of the phasing
and profile of the investment to ensure it delivers the results
we want. On that specific point, knowing the interest he has
taken in it, I am happy to meet him to talk specifically about
his local hospital project and the improvements to be made.
(Darlington) (Con)
I welcome my hon. Friend’s statement, particularly the extra £112
million for north-east Yorkshire. Our NHS is a priority for
everyone in this House and, indeed, a priority for every one of
my Darlington constituents. Does he agree that putting our £33.9
billion cash boost on the statute book demonstrates this
Government’s and our party’s unwavering commitment to the
NHS?
I think it does exactly that, and demonstrates this party’s and
this Government’s commitment to the NHS. What my hon. Friend has
also demonstrated, as always, is his unwavering commitment to his
constituents in Darlington and to championing their cause in this
House.
(Wythenshawe and Sale East)
(Lab)
I was born in the then relatively modern maternity unit at
Wythenshawe hospital in my constituency. After 53 years, I am
afraid one of us is beginning to look a little old and tired. The
Minister knows we have a strategic regeneration framework for the
whole site, with world-class breast, cystic fibrosis, heart,
lungs and burns care facilities. We have the money in the bank to
do it, but because of archaic Treasury rules we cannot get on
with it. Come on, Minister—let us change those rules.
I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that it is not him who is
looking a little old or worn around the edges. I understand the
point he makes, and he and I have met about this particular
issue, which goes back to what counts against capital allocations
in terms of accounting. He tempts me to change Treasury rules; I
fear that could be career-limiting, as I am not a Treasury
Minister, but I will continue to talk to him and work with him to
see whether we can find a way to allow the project to
proceed.
(Guildford) (Con)
I am reassured to see that applications to study nursing and
midwifery have risen by 21% this year alone. Having recently
joined my midwives on their March with Midwives up the high
street in Guildford, I know that midwives urgently need their
numbers boosted. Will my hon. Friend confirm that we remain on
track to deliver 50,000 more nurses by the end of this
Parliament, as we promised in our manifesto?
I can confirm that my hon. Friend is absolutely right in her
assessment of the progress that we are making.
(Weaver Vale) (Lab)
When are Halton and Warrington going to get their new hospital
campuses? We have waited for far too long.
The hon. Gentleman showed admirable brevity in making his point
very clearly, as ever—[Interruption.] I suspect he faces a bit of
competition from his hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and
Sale East () for the funding. In my
recollection—forgive me if I am off on this—I think that Halton
and Warrington have submitted a bid for funding as part of the
next eight. There is considerable interest in this. We are
evaluating all those at the moment and, in the coming months, we
will work that down to a shortlist. It would be wrong for me to
prejudge that process, but it is not wrong, of course, for the
hon. Member for Weaver Vale () to continue championing his
local hospital and its cause.
(Maldon) (Con)
I welcome today’s announcement and join the Minister in paying
tribute to all those working for the NHS. The biggest challenge
in mid-Essex, and I suspect nationally, is access to primary
care, particularly managing to get through on the telephone line
and, after that, obtaining an appointment. Can the Minister say
any more about what the Government are doing to address that?
My right hon. Friend is right to highlight primary care,
essentially, as the front door for many people into the NHS
system. GPs and general practice have done a fantastic job. They
have worked very hard, but it has been very challenging. The
Secretary of State announced additional money to support GP
practices in returning to face-to-face appointments and in seeing
more people—we have seen significant investment in that. The
percentage of face-to-face appointments continues to go up, which
I know matters to a large number of all our constituents.
(Hertford and Stortford)
(Con)
Two weeks ago today, my hon. Friend was very generous with his
time and in his support for the tragic case of my constituent,
Jessica Brady, who passed away aged 27 from cancer. Will he
confirm that the funding to support the NHS and the focus on
policies such as the community diagnostic hubs, along with some
of the other things that we discussed two weeks ago, will help
people, including in Hertford and Stortford, to get the referrals
that they need?
I remember that Adjournment debate very clearly. My hon. Friend
made an incredibly moving and powerful speech, highlighting
Jessica’s situation, what happened to her and her circumstances.
My hon. Friend made the point about the importance of early
diagnosis and a holistic approach to a patient’s symptoms, and
then diagnosis and treatment. The investment that we are putting
into diagnostic hubs will help to do exactly that and bring those
diagnostics to the heart of our communities, allowing more people
to be seen more quickly.
(Don Valley) (Con)
I thank my hon. Friend for the £700 million that he has announced
this morning; my Don Valley constituents will be pleased to hear
that. While I have the Minister’s attention, will he thank all
the volunteers in Doncaster and all the constituents who have
come forward to have their jab? And is there any chance of a new
hospital?
I will certainly join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to all the
volunteers and all those who have come forward for their jabs.
For a brief moment, I thought that that was where he was going to
end, but he is a proud champion of Doncaster, just as you are,
Madam Deputy Speaker, and it would have been very strange were he
not to conclude by lobbying once again for the new hospital that
he wants. I pay tribute to him for that.
(Rushcliffe) (Con)
I welcome the £131 million for the midlands that the Minister has
announced today. I am very aware, though, that my constituents in
East Leake are being served by a health centre that is the oldest
in Nottinghamshire and which is far too small for the population
growth that we have seen in recent years. Twenty months ago, the
then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social
Care—my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds ()—promised at the Dispatch Box that we would have a
ministerial visit to East Leake so that the Department could see
what we were dealing with. I completely understand that that was
impossible at the height of the pandemic, but that has long
passed, so will the Minister recommit to that visit today and
take that request back to his Department, because despite
repeated chasing by me and my office staff, we cannot get a date
from it in the diary?
Madam Deputy Speaker
Order. It is very important that we do not go off the boil in
terms of briefness of questions. The Minister is being very good
at being brief in his answers.
It would be easy to commit the Under-Secretary of State for
Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes
(), to a visit because she is
not here. Equally, I am conscious that East Leake is just up the
road from my constituency, so it may be that my hon. Friend gets
me instead. I will certainly look into that visit.
(Warrington South) (Con)
Following the point made by the hon. Member for Weaver Vale
(), the greatest challenge
that we face to recovery from covid in Warrington is that our
hospital is too small. Warrington trust recently submitted a bid
for a new purpose-built hospital. Will my hon. Friend assure me
that, in the new year, he will look favourably on Warrington?
My hon. Friend, along with many right hon. and hon. Members, is
doing his bit to push the cause of his local hospital investment
bid. As I said to the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (), I commend that, but it
would be wrong for me to be drawn while the process is still
under way.
(Runnymede and Weybridge)
(Con)
I thank my hon. Friend for his statement on health and social
care planning. The worry is, of course, that the omicron variant
will put a lot of pressure on that planning. Will he update the
House on where the Department has got in crunching the data on
how dangerous or not omicron will be?
The latest statistic I have on the number of cases in this
country is, I believe, 42. That work is still being done. We have
seen various news reports today on things that might be
encouraging, but I encourage everyone to wait and see while that
analysis is done. It will take two to three weeks for the
scientists to do their amazing work in understanding whether this
new variant is more infectious and more virulent as well as how
it responds to therapeutics and vaccines, and I am afraid that we
will have to be patient while they do that work. Hopefully, they
will come back with positive news, but it is too early to
say.
(Aylesbury) (Con)
I welcome the publication of the health and social care approach
outlined by the Minister. The details of the funding breakdown to
help tackle a backlog in elective care will undoubtedly provide
hospitals with the clarity and support that they need. However,
we also need to reduce the number of people remaining in hospital
when they no longer require medical care. Does he agree that one
possible option to help alleviate that would be intermediate care
provision that is a step between hospital and home?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight that. My hon.
Friend the Minister for Care and Mental Health has done a huge
amount of work on both investment and working with local systems
to improve hospital discharge for those who do not need to be in
hospital any more, to give them that step-down support, be that
domiciliary care or in other settings. In the current context, we
must do that safely, but she is working extremely hard to deliver
that and doing a fantastic job.
(Dudley South) (Con)
The investment that the Minister has announced together with the
100 community diagnostic hubs will make a big difference in
helping people to get the referrals that they need. Does my hon.
Friend agree that early diagnosis depends on being able to see
the appropriate clinician face to face where necessary, whether
in hospital or in a GP’s surgery?
My hon. Friend is right. The key words are “where necessary”, and
that is a clinical judgment. I have highlighted the improvements
that we are seeing in terms of the number of face-to-face
appointments going up in primary care. Equally, we do not want to
lose the benefits of telephone appointments or other appointments
for those who wish to interact in that way. It is about trying to
craft the system around the patient and taking those clinical
judgments into account.
(Beaconsfield) (Con)
Will my hon. Friend allocate a portion of the enhanced winter
discharge funding to mental health support for young people? I
have had another secondary school student take their own
life—that is my crisis. We need more mental health support and
out-of-hospital provision for young people.
My hon. Friend highlights the hugely important point that over
winter we face challenges not just in physical health but in
mental health, particularly as we come through the pandemic. One
reason that we are investing £500 million in mental health
catch-up is that we know how vital it is that we do not just talk
about parity of esteem but recognise it in the resources that we
put in.
(Blyth Valley) (Con)
My constituents in Blyth Valley will welcome the £700 million in
funding for the NHS. May I thank the staff in the sterilisation
unit in Cramlington, the A&E hospital for Northumberland, for
all the work that they have done? That goes to prove that we are
a proactive Government, not a reactive Government, when it comes
to healthcare.
I join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to the team in the
sterilisation unit in his local accident and emergency hospital.
He is absolutely right: throughout the pandemic and the
Government’s existence we have given the NHS the resources and
the backing that it needs to get on with the job.
(East Devon) (Con)
People in East Devon will warmly welcome the £700-million
investment in our NHS. Will my hon. Friend outline when patients
in Devon will know how that money will improve local
services?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. This money is being allocated to
the regions, then to individual trusts. A large amount of that
money has already been allocated to specific projects that have
been announced today. The rest of the money, when allocated to
local systems, will then be allocated by that local system—the
people who know their area best.
(Gedling) (Con)
Staff in hospitals in Nottinghamshire are working hard, as we
have heard, sometimes in difficult circumstances. Today’s
announcement includes an extra £4 million of spending for
hospitals in Nottinghamshire. Does my hon. Friend agree that that
will make a real difference to patients in Nottinghamshire, and
will he join me in thanking staff in Nottinghamshire hospitals
for the hard work that they are doing at the moment?
I am happy to join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to the work
of the staff in his local hospitals. He is absolutely right to
highlight the fact that that money will make a huge and real
difference to patient care in his local hospital trust and in his
local area.
(Redcar) (Con)
Will the Minister join me in thanking our fantastic primary care
services across Teesside, without which we would not have had our
world-leading vaccine roll-out? Will he come to Redcar and
Cleveland to visit fantastic GP surgeries such as Normanby
medical centre and the Saltscar surgery in Redcar, which have
been doing all that they can under tremendous pressure?
It looks as if I might be going on tour again; the same thing
happened when I last did one of these statements. I am happy to
go to “Bluecar”—or Redcar, to call it by its proper name—to see
my hon. Friend in his constituency, and to make such a visit when
it can be arranged.
(Dudley North) (Con)
I welcome the Minister’s statement and the gargantuan amounts of
money that he, his team and the Government are putting into the
NHS. Can he provide me and my Dudley constituents with some
assurances that that will translate into additional capacity and
bringing down the covid-induced backlogs?
Absolutely, I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. He rightly
alludes to the fact that the inputs are important, but for those
of us on the Government Benches, it is the results they bring—the
outputs—and what we do with the money that matter. We will ensure
that that money is well spent, harnesses innovation and delivers
even better patient care and access to his constituents and many
others.
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