Topical Questions

We have been busy announcing investment in hospices, an uplift in funding for general practice, action through disabled facilities grants and a new independent commission on adult social care, and yesterday the Prime Minister announced the elective care reform plan. As I have said, however, the NHS is experiencing a period of significant winter challenge. The number of beds occupied by people with flu has been much higher than the number last year, and is continuing to rise. An average of just over 4,200 beds were occupied by flu patients at the end of December, surpassing the peak of about 2,500 reported last year. We monitor the situation closely, working hand in hand with NHS England and care leaders, and I continue to chair weekly meetings with senior leaders in social care, NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency.

I am sure the Secretary of State will share my shock and anger about the number of young people in my constituency who are waiting more than four years for a first assessment by child and adult mental health services. Can he confirm that yesterday’s commitment by the Prime Minister that patients would not wait more than 18 weeks for a first appointment will apply to CAMHS in Oxfordshire?

We are determined to improve children and young people’s experience of both mental and physical health services, and we are determined to do more to ensure that mental health and paediatric waits are put under the spotlight and given the same attention as the overall elective backlog. I am sure we will have more to say about that when we publish the 10-year plan.

In September the Secretary of State and I met the families of people who had suffered harm following the covid-19 vaccination, including my hon. Friend’s constituent Sheila Ward, and they raised the need for reform of the vaccination damage scheme. We listened closely to their descriptions of what they had been through and agreed to look at a number of options, noting that cross-cutting Government decisions might be necessary. We are also working with the NHS Business Services Authority to improve claimants’ experiences of the scheme, and to ensure that claims are processed quickly.

Order. May I remind Members not to walk past when the Minister is replying to a question? Please have regard for each other; this sets a bad example. I call the shadow Secretary of State.

The Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday of his elective recovery plan mirrored that of Sir Saijd Javid in 2022, but one aspect was different. Our plan explicitly recognised the importance of the workforce being in place to deliver the 9 million extra tests and interpret the results, and it set out proposals to increase that workforce further. What plans has the Secretary of State to boost the workforce in community diagnostic centres specifically, over and above the plans that he inherited from us, to ensure that his elective recovery plan is deliverable?

The shadow Secretary of State is right to say that we need staff in place to do the job. The additional funding announced by the Chancellor in the Budget is central to the delivery of this plan—I note that he opposes that funding, which is deeply regrettable—but we need to improve productivity as well. That is why the plan sets out steps to free up patient appointments that are unnecessary or of low clinical value, but, crucially, staff time in productivity gains is also important, so as well as making the most of the additional investment, we are making the most of delivering value for taxpayers’ money—

Order. Please help me a little bit. You have had a good run today—don’t spoil it.

On hospices, while the Secretary of State’s pre-Christmas hospice funding announcement was, of course, welcome, the vast bulk of it was in fact non-recurring capital funding, which cannot be used to help them cover the hiked employer national insurance tax on hospices’ most precious asset: their staff. What steps is he taking to ensure that they receive recurring revenue funding, to enable them to cover the additional costs?

The £100 million capital investment we set out before Christmas is the biggest boost to hospice funding in a generation, and it comes on top of the £26 million that we announced for the children and young people’s hospice grant. The right hon. Gentleman cannot welcome the investment and keep opposing the means of raising it. Would he cut services or raise other taxes? He has got to answer.

Can Members please remember that these are topical questions?

We are making a priority of resuming consultations with the sector to stabilise community pharmacy. Pharmacy First has built on existing services to increase the clinical scope. The conditions treated under Pharmacy First vary across the UK, and the NHS will keep this under review.

I am sure the hon. Lady will welcome the fact that we have found an £86 million uplift for the disabled facilities grant, but on the specific question she raises, I would be happy to meet her and discuss that further.

My hon. Friend raises a really important point. NHS England is due to complete a stocktake of long covid services throughout England at the end of this month. That will provide an accurate in-depth overview of not only long covid services but ME/CFS—myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome—services. The stocktake will provide a comprehensive and accurate national picture, identify key challenges and make strategic recommendations for future service improvement, development and assurance.

Yes, I or the Minister of State for Health would be delighted to meet the hon. Member. She is right to describe the scale of challenge in urgent and emergency care. Of course, there are other challenges in east Kent, particularly in maternity services, which I am acutely aware of too, and I would be delighted to work with her to help solve some of those challenges in her community.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: the NHS dental contract simply is not working. We are working with the sector to reform the contract, with a shift to focusing on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists. We will deliver on our pledge to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments at the earliest possible opportunity, targeting areas that need them most.

One in five social care jobs in Cumbria are currently unfilled, and the consequences are unbearable for those who are vulnerable; indeed, they are causing pressure on the rest of the NHS. Will the Secretary of State look carefully at the specific needs of rural communities such as ours, where it is so much harder to recruit and retain social care workers?

I was in Cumbria recently, and I was struck by the fact that the care home I visited in Carlisle is delivering great intermediate care for the NHS at half the price of a hospital bed—a really good example of how social care often delivers better value and better care. However, the hon. Gentleman is right about the recruitment challenges. We are determined to work with local training providers and the local university to make sure that we recruit social care workers, grow our own in Cumbria and keep them in Cumbria.

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the particular problems in his constituency. Decisions on the configuration of call centres are a matter for local trusts in consultation with staff and representatives, and I encourage him to continue to engage with the trust in the interests of his constituents.

Will the additional money announced for hospices before Christmas cover the full cost of the increase in employer’s national insurance contributions or not?

The Conservatives cannot, on the one hand, welcome the investment and, on the other hand, condemn the means of raising it. Would they cut NHS and care services, or would they raise other taxes? They have to answer.

I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend. She was literally the first person to lobby me immediately after the general election, about her hospital, having already lobbied me before. I am delighted that, thanks to her efforts, we have been able to deliver for her community; indeed, thanks to your efforts, Mr Speaker, we have done so for yours too. I would be delighted to meet her.

Becky’s son Will was a normal, happy teenager until he suffered multiple covid infections. His mother tried to find out what was wrong with him, but she found that there were no paediatric long covid care services in Kent. Will the Minister update the House on whether Kent, with a population of 2 million, will ever get a paediatric long covid service?

I am very sorry to hear about the hon. Gentleman’s constituent. I know at first hand how complex and debilitating long covid can be. As I mentioned in an earlier answer, there is a stocktake taking place, which should show where there are deficiencies, but let me be clear: I want to ensure that there are good services for people suffering with long covid in every part of England.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to describe the Isle of Wight as a dental desert. That is perhaps one of the reasons why the good people of that island elected a Labour Member for the first time in history. Our ambition is to make sure that everyone who needs a dentist can get one. Sadly, 28% of adults in England—13 million people—have an unmet need for NHS dentistry. I would be glad to meet my hon. Friend to learn more about how the experience of the Isle of Wight can improve services nationally.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, yet it has no national screening programme. We worked on this issue in government, and I thank the Secretary of State for taking an interest in this area. Will he join me in commending Prostate Cancer Research’s excellent new report and urge his team to consider the findings, not least on increasing screening of at-risk groups so that we can not just save the NHS money but, more importantly, save thousands of lives?

I welcome the former Prime Minister’s question, and he is right to commend the research. We are actively looking at it. Given that he is here and that we are currently taking through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, I thank him for his leadership on that issue.

The last Government treated mental health as a Cinderella service, with my constituents waiting days in A&E to be admitted to hospital mental health wards. The Solace Centre in Ealing Southall provides help and support in the community for those with mental health problems, at a fraction of the cost of a hospital stay. How does the Minister intend to move more mental health services from hospital to the community, and to create more great services like the Solace Centre?

I thank my hon. Friend for her excellent question. She is right that it is vital to move services from hospital to community. The Chancellor made funding available for 380,000 more talking therapies for patients and put in place a £26 million capital investment scheme for mental health crisis centres. A lot of work has been done, but there is a lot more still to do.

Will the Secretary of State confirm what is being done to ensure that patients with rare and complex conditions, such as functional neurologic disorder and achalasia, can access consistent and co-ordinated care, including referrals to the multidisciplinary teams they need for the different symptoms they experience?

The hon. Member is right to raise cases where there are multiple comorbidities or complex conditions requiring a range of care services. That is why we need to design services around the patient, not expect patients to contort themselves around the services. Our approach to neighbourhood health services should make a real difference in that regard, but we have to go further and faster on health and care integration, and we absolutely will.

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

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?

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.