Karin Smyth MP: speeches

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Speeches

14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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The hon. Lady tempts me to make specific commitments, which I am not prepared to do, as I am sure she understands. She is right that people are expressing concerns about some of these decisions. That is because they are in such a precarious situation as a result of what we have inherited from the past 14 years. As the Prime Minister and the rest of the Government have been clear throughout the election and afterwards, we have a 10-year plan because it will take a long time to fix the foundations and build up the sector to make it more resilient and sustain it for the future. We want to fix those foundations, and we will talk closely with everyone affected over the coming months, but this will take a long time. Those providers are precarious because of the mess that we inherited.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend brings a great deal of expertise to the House from her work in social care, so she knows and understands the precarious nature of the sector, which we cannot stress enough. I do not know whether the Conservatives have actually read the report by Lord Darzi, but that report and its appendices give a really clear idea and diagnosis of the state in which the NHS and social care system was left. It will take a long time to rebuild it, and the sustainability of general practice and primary care is particularly problematic. That is why we took those actions in the summer, and why we will continue to support them and build up a neighbourhood health service.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s point. As I have said, we will continue our conversations with all affected providers in the normal way.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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As I have said, we have made a commitment to general practice and primary care by releasing extra GPs into the system. We recognise the situation in which GPs find themselves. I know this because I worked with GP practices in my previous career. We need those practices to be the foundation of our neighbourhood services, which is why we will talk in the normal process about the allocations over the next few months as part of the contract.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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We understand the precarious situation that hospices are in—the precarious situation that they found themselves in before we came to power— and we are committed to talking to them and other affected providers. We will be going through the normal process of allocations in the next few months.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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The hon. Lady makes an excellent point about the importance of GPs and primary care to the wider sector. Immediately after taking office this summer, we freed up the system to employ 1,000 extra GPs through the additional roles reimbursement scheme—which the previous Government refused to implement—because we recognised the need for that extra capacity. We will be talking to general practice as part of the contract reforms over the next few months, following the normal process, to determine allocations for next year.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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Well, I do agree with my hon. Friend. As I have said, when I became a Member of Parliament in 2015, I remember very clearly the absolute shock that I felt when the Conservatives immediately announced that they were not going to meet the commitment that they had made to implement the Care Act 2014 at that time, and we are still playing catch-up on that issue.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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The right hon. Gentleman tempts me to go into my previous career working with GPs and their employment and contractual status, but I will not do that now, Mr Speaker, as you would rightly curtail me. GPs have a complicated contractual status that has been long in the process. We understand the precariousness of primary care. GPs are crucial to our plans for developing the health service, and we will discuss with them, in the normal process, the allocations for the following year.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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I respect my hon. Friend’s expertise in this area. She is right, and we understand that the pressures are real, which is why we have committed to supporting the NHS and the social care system with the additional funding that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care secured as part of the Budget settlement. We are also working closely with the NHS, in a new relationship, to understand its needs. That is a dynamic conversation, because we want to understand what is happening in local systems as we continue to invest in them.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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I am sure that all those hospices, which do great work, were also in touch with the hon. Lady when she was part of the previous Government. She will know from her time on the Treasury Committee that following the Budget, we go through the planning guidance and have conversations with all core contracted sectors. That is part of the normal process. We are absolutely committed to building back the foundations of the NHS and social care system, making it fit for the 21st century and creating a 10-year plan to which we want everyone to contribute. Community and neighbourhood systems are a fundamental part of that.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is right: getting away from short-term fixes and sticking plasters is exactly what we are attempting to do. That is why we put in the extra security of extra GPs over the summer, committed to extra funding in the Budget, and launched our 10-year plan. I encourage all hon. Members and their constituents to submit their views to that exercise at change.nhs.uk.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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The right hon. Gentleman was part of the last Government—I am pleased to note that he is talking to his new constituents. The £22 billion black hole and the report from Lord Darzi indicate the fragility of the system we have inherited. We are ensuring that vulnerable groups are supported through the allocations provided to both the Department for Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that his hospice, and the hospices in many of our constituencies, do great work. We are aware of the precarious situation that they have been in for a number of years, and we want to ensure that they are fully part of end of life care. He will know from his time in the Treasury that there are complicated processes, both in the Treasury and in the Department of Health and Social Care. When I talk about the normal processes for allocating money, I think he understands that well. We are mindful of hospices’ concerns, and we will continue to talk with them.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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I am so pleased to see my hon. Friend in her place. As I said to the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan), the SNP has been in charge of Scotland for a very long time. We have certainly missed having a Scottish Labour voice in this place. She makes an excellent point and shines some sunlight in this place on the actions that have been taken up in Holyrood.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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As the hon. Gentleman knows, health and social care is a devolved issue. We will continue to work closely with all the devolved areas, because we think that that is important, unlike the last Labour Government—the last Conservative Government. [ Laughter. ] I slipped there—I almost got through. We absolutely understand the precarious nature of general practice and, in particular, I understand the really serious issues around health and social care in Northern Ireland. The hon. Gentleman knows that, and he makes a good case for the sector. We want to ensure that it supports people in Northern Ireland with the good primary and community care they deserve.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. We have still not heard from the Opposition whether they agree with the extra investment that has gone into the sector or with Lord Darzi’s report that diagnosed their legacy, including why they left that legacy and the serious issues we now have to address.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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The hon. Gentleman may or may not think that this is political knockabout, but I was very clear in my opening statement that we understand the pressures that the sector is under. We understand the mess that we inherited, and we are fixing it. We are working with social care, GPs, providers and hospices that are affected by any changes in the Budget, and we will continue to talk to them in the usual way. We are committed to doing this faster than the last Government did it. Under the last Government, planning guidance and commitments to the NHS were always running late—they were always playing catch-up. We are committed to making sure that the sector is much more sustainable, so that it can do the important job we are asking it to do.
14 Nov 2024 · National Insurance Contributions: Healthcare · Hansard source
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I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments and for supporting his local hospice. He is an experienced parliamentarian; he knows that this is not simple and that the provider landscape is complicated. As we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts), large private equity companies own many social care providers. We want to ensure that any additional funding from the Budget goes exactly where it needs to be: supporting patients—our constituents—where they live and need care. That is why, over the next few months, we will continue to talk to providers in the usual way about the allocation of those funds.
12 Nov 2024 · Breast Cancer: Younger Women · Hansard source
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) for bringing this debate to the House, as well as other hon. Members for their interventions. I also pay tribute to the hon. Lady for championing the story of her constituent Lucy and others, such as Jessica Parsons, who have done so much to raise awareness. We have a powerful role as Members of Parliament, and I commend the hon. Lady for doing an excellent job. The hon. Lady is absolutely right that awareness raising is key to catching cancer early, and the most effective way to tackle breast cancer in younger women is to encourage them to check their breasts regularly. The NHS is going through the worst crisis in its history, and this Government will turn it around so that cancer patients are diagnosed and treated on time. The investments we are making now in breast cancer treatment and research are part of our plan to make the NHS fit for the future. Although women of any age can get breast cancer, it is much more likely to occur over the age of 50. That is why our screening programme sends women their first invitation at 50. However, I will take this opportunity to emphasise that the take-up of breast cancer screening is currently below 70%. That is worryingly low, and we are determined to change that. I make a plea to all hon. Members to help the Government achieve greater take-up of breast cancer screening in women over 50. Women need to come forward for screening. Taken as a whole, the evidence does not support regular mammograms for women below the age of 50. Decisions on screening, including the age at which to offer it, are made by experts on the UK National Screening Committee, and those decisions are kept under review so that they continue to be based on the best available research. Ultrasound can be used as a diagnostic tool, but it is not appropriate for screening. Mammograms provide a fuller picture of the breast, and are better able to spot early signs of cancer. As the hon. Lady said, mammograms used for screening are less reliable for younger women given their denser breast tissue. Change in the screening age could mean a greater risk of false negatives, where cancer is missed, and there would also be a greater risk of false positives, which may lead to invasive testing when there is no need for it. Our approach is in line with that of most European countries, which screen women between the ages of 50 and 69. For younger women who have a greater risk because of their family history, we offer screening using mammogram or an MRI scan. As I have said, the most effective way to tackle breast cancer in younger women is to encourage them to check their breasts regularly, and to consult their GP straight away if they have any concerns.
12 Nov 2024 · Breast Cancer: Younger Women · Hansard source
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The hon. Member makes a powerful point. When people come in, particularly with a family history, their relationship with their GP should be better and should take that history into account. We know that the sooner cancer is diagnosed, the more treatment options are available, and that treatment is more likely to be effective with an early diagnosis. Primary care and GPs are essential in that pathway and I agree with the hon. Lady that we need to pay attention to the upward trend in demand. NHS England runs campaigns to increase knowledge and awareness of key symptoms, but we can all do more. Breast cancer is thankfully rare among younger women, but the more aware they are of the symptoms, the likelier they are to see their GP, and the GP will be made more aware of those trends. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight Breast Cancer Now’s “Touch, Look, Check” advice. The NHS and the Government support this advice, and I encourage women no matter how young or old they are to check their breasts often. Breast cancer remains one of the most common cancers in England; almost 50,000 people are diagnosed each year. Instances of many types of cancer are rising among young people in this country, and we are not yet certain of the cause of that. Although breast cancer is thankfully less common in younger women, we cannot afford to be complacent and, as the hon. Lady has highlighted, we must remember the human stories behind that number—the lives disrupted, the trepidation of diagnosis and the uncertainty faced by loved ones. We can take some comfort from the fact that more women are surviving breast cancer than ever before. Between 2016 and 2020, the one-year survival rate for breast cancer was over 96%, enabled by advances in screening, treatment and care. There is much more to be done, and I want to reassure hon. Members that it is a top priority of this Government to speed up the diagnosis and treatment of every type of cancer. On 30 October, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor restated and backed that commitment. The first Labour Budget committed £70 million for new radiotherapy treatment machines and £1.5 billion for new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners. This investment will allow the NHS to undertake 30,000 more procedures each year, and the capacity for diagnostic tests will increase to 1.25 million. This further funding will enable us to ensure that cancer can be diagnosed or ruled out as quickly as possible, which is something we all want to see. We also continue to pave the way in identifying the best possible testing and treatment for all types of cancer. Research is a crucial part of this. That is why the National Institute for Health and Care Research has spent £33 million on directly funding breast cancer research in the last five years. But investment alone will not be enough to tackle the problems facing the NHS; it would be like pouring water into a leaky bucket. We need investment and reform. People who work in the NHS, as I have, see first hand what is great but also what is not working—the things more money will simply not fix. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has said, we need to take the best of the NHS. We need to do more to meet the challenges presented cancer now and in the future for people of all ages. We recently launched the biggest national conversation about the future of the NHS since its birth to help to shape our 10-year plan, which will allow us to do more to prevent cancer where we can, identifying it as early and as quickly as possible and treating it with speed and precision. But we need suggestions from hon. Members on how to go further. We need to learn from the experiences of people like Lucy, which the hon. Member for Bath outlined today. I urge everyone to visit change.nhs.uk and help us build a health service fit for the future. I thank the hon. Lady for bringing this important matter to the House and raising her constituent’s issue. I thank all hon. Members who have made such valuable contributions on this important subject. I am pleased to assure them that rebuilding our NHS and delivering world-class cancer treatment and prevention services for every person will always be a top priority for this Government. Question put and agreed to .
30 Oct 2024 · NHS Winter Readiness · Hansard source
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I will come on to social care, but I will make the broader point that every system is different, and the pressures in every system are different. Some systems suffer worse from poorer levels of primary or community care. Others, particularly those across borders, struggle with discharges and packages of care. One thing I am keen to do, and we are doing it, is try to understand the different drivers of performance in different parts of the system. I think we all have a role to play in that. I very much support constructive advice from local Members of Parliament, in consultation with their local trusts, about the real drivers in their systems, because we know that some systems are performing much better. We as a new Government want to address that issue, to ensure that taxpayers’ money is being directed to the best place to make the system work better. That is something for the hon. Member for Winchester to take back. The flow is affected for different reasons in different parts of the system. Several hon. Members have mentioned vaccinations. A key part of winter planning is the annual vaccination campaign, which began on 3 October. I thank the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone), the hon. Member for Winchester and the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East, for mentioning their support for vaccination programmes, which is absolutely welcome. People talk about verifying the figures, but my understanding—I am happy to be corrected—is that we cannot verify the actual figures now. We have started different vaccination rates at different times, so the figures are not directly comparable. We will not really know that until the year works through, which I think people understand. It is too early in the vaccination season to draw firm conclusions, but we all have a role to play in driving and encouraging people to uptake vaccinations across the piece. I recently visited a local hospital in my city of Bristol which has staff hubs and encourages staff to go into the clinics. All Members’ efforts to help with that is really helpful. Vaccination programmes play an essential role in protecting people, particularly the elderly, children and the clinically vulnerable from serious illness during the winter months and in relieving pressures on hospitals and the wider system. Data from the UK Health Security Agency shows that last year people who received a covid vaccine were around 45% less likely to be admitted to hospital compared with those who did not receive one. That is why we are delivering our usual campaigns for covid and flu for the clinically vulnerable in addition to the RSV work that is going on. With regard to elective activity, for patients who are referred to a hospital we want to do everything we can to bring down waiting lists, which stood at over 7.5 million in August. The NHS is prioritising patient safety, urgent and cancer care and will continue to do its best to maintain appointments and elective procedures by separating elective care facilities and diagnostics wherever possible. In the longer term, we are going to return to 92% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment in our first term, a standard that has not been met consistently for patients for a decade. Our hospitals do not operate in isolation. Improving resilience across the whole system, including social care, is essential to winter planning. On 17 September we wrote to all local authorities setting out our priorities for improving resilience across social care ahead of winter, emphasising the importance of close partnerships and joint planning between the NHS and local authorities. We want people to have fair access to locally delivered services that start at home and support them to live independently for as long as possible. That will include building bridges between the NHS and social care services, getting people home from hospital as soon as they are ready, and providing much-needed support to families and friends who are involved in a loved one’s care. We will also work to ensure that people are not stuck in hospital beds when they are well enough to go home. We cannot forget that the backbone of social care is carers. We have made it clear to all local health and care systems that they must continue to support people providing care for their family and friends throughout the winter. I am sure all hon. Members will join me in supporting the Chancellor’s Budget announcement today to support our carers more widely. We want to make sure that carers can access the support they need to look after their own health and wellbeing, not just that of the people they care for. The better care fund includes funding that can be used for short breaks and respite services for carers. The Government are clear that people who draw on care and support, and their families and carers, should be closely involved in decisions about their care. However, in the long term we clearly need reform. That is why the Secretary of State has called for a new national consensus on social care. The Government are committed to building a national care service. My hon. Friend the Minister for Care is introducing the first ever fair pay agreement for care workers. Again, we have seen today our commitment to further support carers with improvements to carer’s allowance. That is a start, but we know we have a long way to go. We are working radically to reform the NHS through the 10-year plan, building a health service that is fit for the future and ready to face every winter confidently. Lord Darzi gave us the diagnosis; the cure can be found in shifting the NHS from treatment to prevention, hospital to home and analogue to digital. That is why last week we launched an extensive engagement exercise with the public, staff and stakeholders to inform that plan. Some right hon. and hon. Members might be keen to see some of the public’s wilder ideas, perhaps, but alongside some of those we have already had many considered and thoughtful responses, and we look forward to outlining our specific plans in the spring. With regard to the point made by the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) about individual training and bursaries and the large number of suggestions about the important issue of recruiting and retaining our staff, we will look closely at the long-term workforce plan—we are already doing that. We are open to suggestions. We need to build a workforce for the future that lines up with our three shifts. It will be a tough process to get right and to keep up with modern technology, but all those ideas will inform that. I commend the hon. Member for North Shropshire for securing the debate today and colleagues for shining a spotlight on the difficulties that our constituents face. I hope colleagues are reassured. As someone who has worked on winter planning in the NHS, I am fully aware of the challenges that we face. That is why we have taken a strong grip of it from the get-go. I know we cannot go on as we have done for the past 14 years, limping from one winter crisis to the next, improvising and making do with sticking plasters. The Government are winter-proofing the NHS with long-term reform, but until that day we will put every hand on deck to tackle the problems as they arise this winter.
30 Oct 2024 · NHS Winter Readiness · Hansard source
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I will come on to staffing to address some of those points. The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point about staff recruitment and retention, which is a key part of our future look at the system. On winter planning, the Government should not be micromanaging people in local systems as they do their job. Rather, we need to focus our efforts on where they are needed the most. Notwithstanding the excellent work of individual staff, let me repeat: the NHS is broken. None of us should underestimate how difficult this winter could be, but we are taking immediate steps to cushion the blow. First, we have set out our national winter planning priorities to NHS systems, local authorities and social care providers to support operational resilience over the coming months. Secondly, we are standing up the winter operating function seven days a week to respond to pressures in real time. Thirdly, we are expanding the operational pressures escalation levels framework to give us a clearer picture of what is happening on the ground in all our systems. The framework uses comprehensive data to keep track of hospital pressures, and this year we are expanding its scope to mental health, community care and 111. Fourthly, we are continuing to support systems that are struggling the most through the urgent and emergency care tiering programme. Those are direct interventions to help systems get back on their feet and make the necessary improvements in performance. Fifthly, we are providing targeted, clinically-led support to 19 of the most pressured hospital sites across the country, to help long waits in A&E and avoidable admissions over winter. Those measures are in addition to the aforementioned meetings that I hold with NHS England and UKHSA every fortnight. I am chairing every one of those meetings to ensure that we identify risks as soon as they arise, while supporting NHS England to mitigate them. The party of the hon. Member for North Shropshire has called on the Government to set up a winter taskforce to prepare for an NHS winter crisis. Some might describe what we are doing as a taskforce; I actually think that is my job and the Secretary of State’s job, which, as I have outlined, is why we meet regularly with NHSE. I know that the hon. Member and others are sincere in their efforts to be constructive. I am happy to take away any specific suggestions about what we are not doing to help the NHS, because we all want the system to work well.
30 Oct 2024 · NHS Winter Readiness · Hansard source
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I thank the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) for securing the debate and hon. Members for taking part. We have all just rushed from the main Chamber and I think I am the only person here who has come out enthused and excited after what we heard about the massive support offered—particularly for the NHS. It is the first Labour Budget delivered after the 14 years of the coalition and the Tory party’s time in power, and it lays the foundations for fixing our economy. Just in case people did not clock all the figures, there will be £22.6 billion in day-to-day extra spending on the health budget, including a £3.1 billion increase in the capital budget, £1 billion of which helps address the backlogs of repairs that have been allowed to fester over the past 14 years. There is also an additional £1.5 billion for beds, new capacity for diagnostic tests, surgical hubs and diagnostic centres, to address the key point made by the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti). Let us take some of that funding and not just stop the decline but fix the foundations, setting the path for the next 10 years, as we have clearly articulated in the few weeks that we have been in government. When I speak to my constituents in Bristol South, they are most concerned about the NHS spending every penny of taxpayers’ money wisely, properly and where it needs to be focused. That is why we have concentrated on our three shifts and launched this national conversation—I hope everyone takes part. We all know the problems, and that is what Lord Darzi helped us address. We also know that winter is a difficult time for our health and care system. Although we cannot predict the severity of the weather, we can predict much of the activity, we know what is likely to hit us most of the time, and we can certainly plan better. I remember working on the issue as a NHS manager back in the day, across primary, community, and secondary care, as well as with ambulance services and local authorities. A systems response is needed, and it is important that we are all involved in preparing and planning. I also remember just how demoralising it was for staff in the early 2000s, coming into work every day to fight fires and sort out the awful trolley waits—not to mention how unacceptable that was for patients and families. The point about the impact on staff’s mental health and morale was well made by the hon. Member for Winchester (Dr Chambers). I also saw, and was proud to be part of, the changes we made under that Labour Government to end those trolley waits, and we will do that again. That is what Lord Darzi’s report shone a searing spotlight on, including the chronic lack of capital investment that has put many hospitals into a perpetual bed crisis, particularly during peak periods such as winter cold snaps. While we have inherited a broken NHS, it is not beaten. As we have just heard from the Chancellor, this Government have taken the first steps towards fixing the annual crisis with new capital investment. However, one Budget cannot undo the last 14 years of failure, so while we fix the foundations we are also mitigating the immediate risks. At the very least, going into this winter we will be better prepared than we were last winter. That is because the managers in the NHS will be preparing for winter rather than planning for strikes, which is what they had to do the last three years—already a significant improvement. The health service does face challenges on all fronts, and the figures are sobering. We have heard some of them today. In September, provisional statistics showed that almost one in 10 A&E patients waited over 12 hours to be admitted, transferred or discharged. The mean category 2 response time in September stood at about 36 minutes—around double the NHS constitutional standard. I recently attended a meeting where officials highlighted the number of attendances requiring admissions are already up by 1.8% in September compared to 2023, which is continuing to place increased pressure of patient flow. Those are the results of deep structural issues in the NHS that will not be fixed overnight. But work is already under way to rebuild resilience and manage pressures across the health and care system this winter. I will come on to the specific work being done, but I assure hon. Members that the Government are taking the issue extremely seriously. I am already meeting senior leaders in NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency every two weeks to ensure that the risks can be identified quickly and that pressures are managed effectively. Once the peak winter period hits, the meetings will move weekly and include the Secretary of State. Local NHS systems are best placed to determine how to respond to issues in their local area. That is why NHS England has worked with local systems to ensure robust winter plans are in place at a local level. As someone who knows exactly what is involved in that planning, I pay tribute to the staff for their skill, motivation and commitment to protecting every patient this winter.
29 Oct 2024 · Diabetes Treatments · Hansard source
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I welcome the hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Sarah Bool) to this place, as I have not had a chance to do that. I thank her for securing the debate and sharing her own personal experience. She spoke powerfully about her fear, disbelief and sadness at her own diagnosis. More than 4.9 million people in the UK have diabetes and 2 million people are now at risk of type 2 diabetes. The impact on the health and wellbeing of the nation and on the lives of people with diabetes and their families cannot be overstated. The hon. Lady has put a superb case this morning. A central mission of this Government is to build a health service and care system fit for the future. As part of that, tackling preventable ill health such as type 2 diabetes is crucial. At the same time, we want to ensure that people with types 1 and 2 diabetes receive the best possible care so that they can live healthier lives wherever they live in the United Kingdom. As the hon. Member for South Northamptonshire mentioned, a central factor to people with diabetes living well is ensuring that they have access to annual diabetes reviews that cover the eight processes recommended by NICE. Annual diabetic reviews are associated with reduced emergency admissions, amputations, retinopathy and mortality. However, in 2019 only 42% of people with type 1 diabetes received all eight health checks, and that figure dropped significantly during the covid-19 pandemic. The NHS has worked hard to recover these services, and the proportion of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes receiving all eight care processes reached 43.3% and 62.3% respectively in 2023-24. Although that is an improvement, in order to drive faster uptake the NHS will invest £14.5 million over the next two years to support up to 140,000 people aged between 18 and 39 to receive additional tailored health checks from healthcare staff. That will include support to help break down any stigma associated with the disease and support people with diabetes management through blood sugar-level control, weight management and cardiovascular risk minimisation. I want to draw attention to what the hon. Lady said about stigma, because it is important. My best friend from university was diagnosed in her early 20s, which was some time ago—she will not thank me for mentioning that. I have family and constituents who have type 1, and I have learnt a lot from them about how important it is to look after oneself and get the care that one needs. I also commend Baroness May and Sir George Howarth. They were a formidable duo in Parliament, raising awareness of what is possible. They were both great servants of their respective parties, and I know they will continue that work. Technology also plays a critical role in helping people with diabetes to live healthier lives, and I am pleased to hear of the personal impact a hybrid closed loop system has had on the hon. Member’s life. As many will be aware, NICE has made recommendations on offering real-time continuous glucose monitoring and hybrid closed loop technology to adults and children with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The NHS is making progress, with over 65% of people with type 1 diabetes using glucose monitoring to help manage their condition, and I expect to see similar rapid progress for people with type 2 diabetes. Following NICE’s final guidance in December 2023 on HCL systems, NHS England has developed a five-year national strategy with guidance for NHS providers on a phased uptake for delivering this life-changing technology to eligible diabetes patients. I am sure the hon. Member and others will be watching that roll-out closely. It started this April with an initial focus on children, young people, pregnant women or those planning to become pregnant, and adults already using pumps who want to transition to a HCL system. The longer implementation period is because of a need to build essential workforce competencies in specialist adult services. To ensure that patients are safe, NHS trusts should only provide HCLs if they have access to specialist, trained clinical staff experienced in providing insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors for type 1 diabetes. I know that waiting to access this technology is causing many people distress, and I assure the hon. Member that NHS progress in delivering these technologies is a matter of importance to this Government. I also thank the hon. Member for raising the important issue of type 1 and disordered eating. NHS England has provided funding for eight integrated care boards to support the development and establishment of type 1 disordered eating services in every NHS region. NHS England is drawing on learning from the existing services, other emerging evidence and the findings of a recent parliamentary inquiry to ensure that all areas of the country are supported to improve care for those identified as having type 1 disordered eating. On type 2 diabetes, the hon. Member expressed concerns about access to GLP-1 medications, such as Ozempic. Following intensive work with industry, the broad supply position for GLP-1 medications in the United Kingdom has improved. However, global supply issues remain for specific medicines, including Ozempic. We continue to work closely with manufacturers and others in the supply chain to help ensure the continued supply of GLP-1 receptor agnostics for UK patients, and to resolve the remaining supply issues as quickly as possible, for example by asking suppliers to expedite deliveries. I now turn to prevention and to the support available for people to put their type 2 diabetes into remission, which, as the hon. Lady outlined, is possible. In fact, I canvassed somebody last weekend who was very proud of their ability to do that. It is great work. Lord Darzi’s report on the NHS, which was published last month, noted the worrying increase in the prevalence of people with type 2 diabetes and the necessity of prevention. The prevention of diseases, including diabetes, is a priority for this Government. The Healthier You NHS diabetes prevention programme supports people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes to make lifestyle changes, either through face-to -ace group programmes or digital services. The programme reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by 40%. The programme has also been working to raise awareness among the diabetes healthcare professional community about the growing numbers of children and young adults with type 2 diabetes, and we have heard about that today. Healthcare professionals need to understand the more aggressive nature of early onset type 2 diabetes, compared with older onset type 2 diabetes, to support earlier diagnosis. Further, given the inequalities in who develops type 2 diabetes and the poorer outcomes for those of south Asian and black ethnicity, which were also mentioned by the hon. Member, the NHS has established a focused engagement campaign, using social media and more traditional approaches to raise awareness and boost the uptake from those groups. Living with type 2 diabetes is not inevitable if early action is taken to live a healthier life. As the hon. Member said, the NHS type 2 diabetes path to remission programme is a joint initiative between NHS England and Diabetes UK. It provides a low calorie diet and support to people who have been recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who are living with obesity or are overweight. This year, the programme has been expanded to make it available across all England, enabling more people to benefit and to recover from type 2 diabetes. The hon. Member asked specifically about the ELSA study, which I understand is recruiting 20,000 children in the UK, to better understand the potential benefits of screening for type 1 diabetes. I understand that the University of Bristol, in my home city, is also undertaking a similar study, looking at the risk of type 1 diabetes in adults. The Government look forward to seeing the outcome of both of those studies, to help inform future policy making. By moving from sickness to prevention, the Government want to shorten the amount of time people spend in ill health and prevent illnesses before they happen. That is one of the goals of reforming the NHS, which is part of the Government’s 10-year plan. I know that the hon. Lady will contribute to the debate in the rest of this Parliament. Question put and agreed to.
16 Oct 2024 · Access to Primary Healthcare · Hansard source
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No, I want to move on. I will take one more intervention from the Government Benches at some point and then it is all fair, but I want to allow time for hon. Members to speak. In our first week, we pledged to increase the proportion of NHS resources going into primary care, and in our first month, the Government made a down payment on that pledge, providing GP practices with their biggest funding increase in years. But we are not just increasing funding; we are also cutting the red tape that stops many staff doing their jobs. Some GP practices currently have to fill in more than 150 different forms to refer patients into secondary care services. They are spending as much as 20% of their time on work created by poor communications with their secondary care colleagues. That is totally nonsensical in 2024 and it has to change. Time spent doing needless paperwork and bureaucracy means appointments lost for patients, which is why we have launched a red tape challenge to bulldoze bureaucracy and free up GPs to deliver more appointments. It will be led by Claire Fuller and Stella Vig, established leaders in primary and secondary care. They will check with staff what is working well and what needs to change, so we can take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS. Initiatives like Consultant Connect in south London allow GPs to talk to mental health consultants in real time, reducing the number of referrals they have to make by 40%. Delivered across the country, such schemes could save thousands of hours of time and create thousands of new appointments—that is what our red tape challenge is all about. We want to help patients see specialists faster. Starting in November, 111 online will pilot directly referring women with a worrying lump to a breast clinic. That means faster diagnosis for cancer patients and more GP appointments freed up, which is better for patients and better for GPs. On dentistry, as the hon. Member for North Shropshire outlined, we inherited an NHS dentistry system in disrepair thanks to 14 years of chaos, failure and neglect. As we have to keep reminding Conservative Members, it is a national scandal that tooth decay is the leading cause of hospital admission for five to nine-year-olds. We all see that in our constituencies. The last Government broke their relationship with the British Dental Association, as they broke so many relationships. During the election campaign, we pledged to meet the BDA immediately upon taking office to start rebuilding the relationship, and that is exactly what we did. The BDA is right that the last Government’s dentistry recovery plan did not go far enough. We are keeping parts of it that are the right solutions, including the golden hello and some other measures, but we want to go further to deliver an NHS rescue plan that gets dentistry back on its feet. We are working around the clock to end the truly Dickensian tooth decay that is blighting our children. As well as our additional urgent appointments for all ages, we will work with local authorities to introduce supervised tooth brushing for three to five-year-olds in our most deprived communities. We will see the difference getting them into healthy habits can make, protecting their teeth from decay and ending the national scandal the last Government presided over. On pharmacy, previous Governments dithered and delayed, failing to find a sustainable and long-term funding solution. NHS England is working with the sector to assess the cost of providing pharmaceutical services, and we look forward to seeing its outcome. Consultation around this year’s funding and contractual arrangements with Community Pharmacy England did not make it over the line before the election was called, so we are looking at that as a matter of urgency. We want to continue to make it easier for pharmacists to take referrals and support people with common conditions, using prescribing skills to treat a wider range of conditions and patients. Pharmacists are highly skilled people in our communities. Allowing patients to get the care they need in the community, saving time and freeing up GP appointments by using the skills of pharmacists, will be really helpful for the wider system. Those are our first steps. Primary care is central to the three big shifts that underpin our ten-year plan to make the NHS fit for the future, taking it from analogue to digital, from sickness to prevention, and from hospital to community. We will soon begin a public consultation that will be the biggest listening exercise in NHS history. I look forward to taking part in that and I urge all right hon. and hon. Members, their constituents, and staff across primary care to tell us what is working and what needs to change. We will use their responses to take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS and build a neighbourhood health service. Technology will help doctors, dentists and pharmacists meet demand for same-day appointments, giving patients a digital front door to end the 8 am scramble. Big data will end the cruel postcode lottery of health inequality, so that we can take screening, checks and care directly to the communities that need it most, intervening early to prevent ill health and deterioration. We want colleagues from across primary care to come together with their partners in social care and mental health to work in lockstep, as one team, to treat patients in the comfort of their own homes, which is where those patients want to be. That is the neighbourhood health service that we want to build. That is the future that our constituents want to see. In the interests of time, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will conclude. Our constituents were let down by the previous Government. They were let down by broken promises, underfunding and a failure to listen to patients and staff. We will repair the damage. We have already begun investing in GPs and pharmacies to fix what is broken. We will cut the red tape, speed up treatment, and build a neighbourhood health service that works for everyone. The NHS may be broken, but it is not beaten. We are determined to rebuild it for our people, our communities and our country.

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