Commons
Proceedings
11 June 2026
7 contributions
Compassionate Use Medicine Schemes: VAT
It is very important for patients to have access to innovative medicines as quickly as possible, especially where there is unmet clinical need or no alternative treatment. We are working to streamline the decisions of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Medicines and Health…
I pay tribute to the hon. Lady’s service as a clinician, and she is right to say that, at times, for patients facing such situations, compassionate use schemes are a glimmer of hope, but I think the rest of her comments were ill deserved. I understand the desire of the Opposition to attack a new Sec…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
2 contributions
Topical Questions
The single patient record will give clinicians timely access to a single trusted record so that decisions can be made more efficiently, avoiding duplication, allowing them to spend more time with patients. The system makes all information on a patient accessible in a single place and will allow the …
I commend my hon. Friend for her experience in this area. She tempts me to look at amendments in that space, but we do not have plans for that at the moment. The changes we made to NHS England placed the responsibility regarding health inequalities in all our policies firmly at the Secretary of Stat…
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
3 contributions
Accountability in the Health Service
The NHS modernisation Bill will clarify and strengthen accountability in the NHS. It ends the fragmented accountability that we inherited on coming into government, and the reforms will restore clear democratic accountability, with the Secretary of State directly accountable to Parliament and the pu…
The hon. Gentleman highlights a situation familiar to many of us. One of the many problems that we inherited from the last Government was the fragmented landscape, so I thank him for his question. A key part of the responsibility of integrated care boards is commissioning for their populations to im…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
5 contributions
Waiting Lists: Unreported Removals
Over 85% of waiting list removals are made as a result of patient care, and since the end of the pandemic, unreported removals have been below pre-pandemic levels. Record levels of elective activity are being delivered by NHS staff, enabling us to cut waiting lists and meet our interim target of 65%…
If anyone has forgotten, the last Labour Government left the NHS in a better state than it was in under successive Governments. That is not in dispute in terms of waiting list targets or, indeed, patient satisfaction. The right hon. Gentleman might want to look again at the record.
The point that t…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Health and Social Care
9 June 2026
5 contributions
Healthwatch
We inherited a decades-old system whereby patient voice was divorced from decision makers, with more than 20 organisations offering a place for patients and users to share feedback. The Health Bill will put the views of patients and users at the heart of decision making, ensuring that that directly …
The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about the variety of needs that local commissioners need to take account of. That is exactly what the Health Bill will try to do, not by outsourcing that role to an outside body but by putting those views at the heart of what all commissioners do, which in…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
8 June 2026
Maternity Nurses, Nannies and the Infant Sleep Industry
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Rand) for securing this debate and acknowledging the concern that has been raised recently in the field and by the media. We are all deeply saddened to see the impact of those giving poor advice on infant sleeping. Public safety is a…
Commons
Proceedings
23 April 2026
2 contributions
Allied Health Professionals
I add my thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for introducing the debate and to my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley (Sonia Kumar) for bringing it forward and setting out her role as a physiotherapist.
I am grateful for the opportunity to set out the practical contribution o…
I was literally on my last words, so let me go back. My hon. Friend tempts me to reveal more about the workforce plan. As I said, we are not waiting for the plan to work with our colleagues across the Department for Education, NHS England, locally in ICBs and so on to ensure that we deliver on that …
Commons
Westminster Hall
20 April 2026
2 contributions
Maternity Commissioner
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I thank my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) for responding so ably on behalf of the petitioners. That thousands of people wanted us to talk about this subject, many of whom will be watching—many are…
I agree. That is an important point about the culture in clinical roles and clinical leadership within the secondary care setting and across the entire pathway of supporting women. As part of our 10-year plan, we want to put patients across all parts of the NHS front and centre by building services …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
16 April 2026
20 contributions
Women’s Health Strategy
With permission, I will make a statement on the Government’s renewed women’s health strategy.
The NHS was founded on the principle of equality and the right care for everyone, whenever they need it, but there is no getting away from the fact that it has failed to live up to that founding promise. F…
It is hard to know where to start. I heard the word “welcome” somewhere in the hon. Lady’s remarks, so thanks for that.
In launching what we call a “renewed strategy” we have given credit to the previous strategy, which we welcomed when we were in opposition. However, on issues where there could be…
+18 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
14 April 2026
3 contributions
Topical Questions
Ophthalmology waiting lists have fallen since we have taken office. Average waiting times have reduced, and 18-week performance has improved. ICBs have the flexibility to commission services across specialties within a fixed financial envelope, and may use contract levers to manage that activity. Th…
These organisations play an important role. We are making sure that they are treated fairly, and are supported to play a bigger role. They will be supported by the forthcoming plan for voluntary, community and social enterprise spending targets to 2028, and a combined action plan for small and mediu…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
14 April 2026
3 contributions
NHS Management
Good managers are crucial to fixing our NHS, which is why the Government are backing managers and leaders with targeted investment. We will introduce professional standards for managers, establish a leadership college and implement mechanisms to prevent unsuitable individuals from holding senior NHS…
I thank the right hon. Member for his question. I know he has raised it previously with the Leader of the House, and a similar issue has been raised with me by many hon. Members in his local geography. He knows that it would not be appropriate for me to comment on individual cases, but further to my…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
23 March 2026
4 contributions
Puberty Blockers Clinical Trial
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I thank the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) of the Petitions Committee for the way in which he introduced the debate. In his usual style, he made sure that he had talked to a range of people and experts t…
I am not going to give way; I am going to get through these points.
The safety and wellbeing of children and young people have always been the driving consideration in every decision we have made regarding this trial, and always will be. That is why the trial sponsor has paused recruiting until the…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
5 March 2026
Women’s Health Strategy: Endometriosis and Fibroids
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Ms Oppong-Asare) on securing this important debate. Baroness Merron, who leads on this work for the Department, and I are grateful to my hon. Friend for the conversations that she has been leading; for putting the spotlight on endome…
Commons
Debate
5 March 2026
3 contributions
Palliative Care
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) for securing this important debate. We entered Parliament at the same time; we were immediately on opposite sides of the assisted dying debate, and we remain so. Although the Government are neutral, we have always articulated our c…
My hon. Friend pre-empts my next paragraph; I thank him for his contribution.
As part of the development of the MSF, we will be looking at some of the important aspects of care that my hon. Friend the Member for York Central mentioned, such as early identification of need, care delivered closer to …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
4 March 2026
4 contributions
NHS Capital Spending
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I thank colleagues for their kind remarks about my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton). We will miss her. She has set a great example, not only by continuing while undergoing cancer treatment but, as hon. Members h…
The Chancellor has made her key decision to put us back on track, announcing in the Budget that capital health spending would increase by £15.2 billion by the end of the spending review period in 2029-30. [ Official Report, 16 March 2026; Vol. 782, c. 6WC.] (Correction) That funding will be used as …
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 March 2026
North Middlesex Hospital Accident and Emergency Services: Cancer Patients
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison.
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Edmonton and Winchmore Hill (Kate Osamor) for securing the debate. I echo her comments about Mrs Thorn in the light of her husband Jack’s experience. My hon. Friend has worked diligently on behalf …
Commons
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
4 contributions
Topical Questions
My hon. Friend highlights an important point about the need to have further roll-outs of CDCs, particularly for communities such as hers. We are expanding those and expanding the time available for them. We are also expanding access through the front door through the NHS app and digital. Our new onl…
I understand the issues that the hon. Gentleman and many other Members, such as my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn), have raised in Grimsby and the Lincolnshire area. It is important that the clinical mapping for their new services is supported by clinicians and…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
2 contributions
NHS: Private Finance Initiatives
The health PFI programme between 1992 and 2015 delivered 126 new acute facilities for the NHS, and over £12 billion of investment in the estate. NHS PFI contracts are held by individual trusts, and the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority publishes annual data on them, includ…
My hon. Friend highlights an important example, where something is clearly not going well. The Department is working with the team at Alder Hey to help rectify some of those problems. That is why we will not be using that PFI model in future. We have learned those lessons and we will take forward a …
Commons
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
3 contributions
Ambulance Response Times
We now have ambulances arriving faster, but we know there is much more to do. We have taken action to reduce handover delays by introducing release-to-rescue 45-minute handovers, supporting ambulances back on to the road to respond to patients faster. We have invested in an extra 500 ambulances. I a…
I commend my hon. Friend for visiting her ambulance service, as many hon. Members do, to understand the pressures they are working under. It is a useful visit to understand those wider issues, as she says. She raised an important point about handover delays impacting staff as well as patients. Reduc…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
3 contributions
Menopause Diagnosis: London
It should not be so difficult for women to get a diagnosis for a condition that every single one of us goes through. That is why this Government took a landmark step forward by including menopause in the NHS health checks for the first time ever. It is assessed that this will benefit around 5 millio…
My hon. Friend makes an excellent point that many of us will, unfortunately, recognise. We need to address variability in training, through the NHS health checks and training that is being rolled out by both the General Medical Council and the royal colleges. We need to go further. There are some gr…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 February 2026
Rural GPs: Funding
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank the right hon. Member for Tatton (Esther McVey) for securing the debate and raising a critical issue that I know is important to many hon. Members. I am pleased to be here on behalf of the Minister for Care, my hon. Friend the Member…
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 February 2026
8 contributions
Hughes Report: Second Anniversary
It is a pleasure to serve under you chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. I am grateful for the opportunity to address the House following the second anniversary of the report by the Patient Safety Commissioner, Dr Henrietta Hughes. I pay tribute to her work and, as others have, to Baroness Cumberlege for her w…
I will, but I do want to respond to Members’ comments.
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
28 January 2026
2 contributions
Long-term Health Conditions: Women
Through the big shifts in our 10-year health plan, we will ensure that more tests and care are delivered in the community, improving working between services, using greater use of technology to support women who are managing long-term conditions and, crucially, learning from the work led by the pion…
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to say that osteoporosis disproportionately affects women and plays a crucial part in absence from the workforce. Baroness Merron, who leads on this work, and I met Charlie Mayfield when he was looking at how to get more women back into the workforce, and we wi…
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
28 January 2026
7 contributions
Health Inequalities: Women
We are committed through our 10-year health plan to prioritising women’s health as we build an NHS that is fit for the future. That includes renewing the women’s health strategy, investing in research that addresses health inequalities and continuing to build on vital progress in women’s health.
The hon. Member and I discussed this issue before he brought a debate on it to Westminster Hall, and I know that he has campaigned hard on it for local women. He raises an excellent point: we must ensure that what is happening on the ground with regard to maternity and the changes that people are pr…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
26 January 2026
2 contributions
NHS Urgent Care: Staffordshire
It is a pleasure to respond to this debate, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) for securing it and raising in a constructive way the important matter of urgent care in Staffordshire. It is always good to have more proud NHS non-clinical bureaucrats in thi…
When I became a Minister, my hon. Friend was one of the first through the door to share some of the issues in Stoke. In my meeting today, in which I had my map in front of me to point out some of the journey times, his comments were in my mind.
As I said, it is really important that we take local p…