Simon Opher MP: speeches

Speeches

• 8 Jun 2026 · Progression of Bills through Parliament · Hansard source

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  I thank the 326 signatories from Stroud who helped to make this debate possible, as well as the many petitioners who are in the Public Gallery. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central (Lewis Atkinson) for what I thought was an absolutely excellent speech. Even before taking up my role as an MP, I cannot say that I was a massive fan of the other place. There are undoubtedly many wonderful peers whose expertise and scrutiny make a valuable contribution to our legislative process. However, the idea that individuals should by virtue of their religious office or, until very recently, the lottery of life—or, indeed, because of political donations or cronyism—have a role in shaping, and blocking, our laws is impossible to justify in a democracy. My views on the issue were cemented by my experience with the Terminally Ill Adults Bill. I had the privilege of serving on the Bill Committee, which sat for more than 100 hours, considered hundreds of pieces of written evidence, heard three full days of oral evidence from experts and accepted more than 150 amendments. I also explored my constituents’ views on this during many surgeries. I take issue with the idea that the Bill is not a good piece of legislation. I have worked in palliative care for many years, and this is an excellent piece of legislation. Saying that it is weak is simply a tactic used by those who do not agree with assisted dying. Through abuse of parliamentary procedure, a handful of peers were able to impede the progress of the Bill, despite it being endorsed by the Commons and the public. According to polling, only 14% of people believe that the House of Lords should be able to prevent the Bill. Just 1% of peers took up more than a third of the speaking time on the Bill, tabling 60% of the amendments. As we have heard, although many of those amendments were tabled in good faith, others, which I will not go into, were absolutely ridiculous. The obstruction we saw with the assisted dying Bill can never be allowed to happen again. I am grateful that we have and can use the Parliament Act, but it is increasingly clear that we must look at other mechanisms. We need to completely change, and possibly even get rid of, the House of Lords. Peers continue to frustrate the timely progress of Bills that were passed by the democratically elected Commons. There was not just the assisted dying Bill, but the Employment Rights Act 2025, when Opposition peers refused to put down their bats in the game of ping-pong. That is why I, with others, set up the all-party parliamentary group on House of Lords reform to examine the options for reform. Comprehensive reform may take time, but there are practical changes that could be implemented in the shorter term. The self-governance of the House of Lords is fiercely guarded by many peers; however, without underpinning rules, those gentlemen’s agreements are open to abuse, as we saw over the course of the previous parliamentary Session. I had the pleasure of speaking to Baroness Smith, the Leader of the House of Lords, and although she managed to deliver all the Government business in a difficult Parliament, the ability of a small number of peers to disrupt, due to the lack of authority of the House of Lords Speaker, was abundantly clear. For private Members’ Bills, it was open season, as in those circumstances the Speaker has no powers of curtailment or to insist on the grouping of amendments, nor can the party leaders in the Lords impose any discipline. There are, in fact, no rules, which allows a small number of peers to block legislation based on their own particular views. It is time that the other place adopts rules about conduct and the primacy of the Speaker. In the longer term, we need to abolish the House of Lords Chamber and replace it with something that is fit for purpose. The public expect Parliament to debate, scrutinise and improve legislation, and not allow a small, unelected minority to prevent the will of the elected House from being carried into law. I hope that the Government will work with hon. Members to ensure that what happened to the assisted dying Bill will never happen again, and that the will of the Commons on that point is made in law.

• 1 Jun 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to speak in support of the Bill, which I believe has the power to transform patient care in the NHS. Particularly after the remarks of my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley), the House will be aware that I also have a vested interest in this, as I have been a working GP in the NHS in Stroud for at least the last three decades. Indeed, I did a surgery last Friday, and I excitedly told the other doctors that we are going to have a single patient record. Instead of being excited, they said, “It’s about time.” Those of us working in the NHS have been calling for a single patient record for years, so it is about time that a patient can tell their story just once, and about time a GP knows what a consultant is saying and the consultant knows what the GP is saying. It is about time that, when a patient gets admitted to A&E, the doctors know what the GP has already done, and that, when a patient gets referred to a psychiatrist, they know which antidepressants have been taken. As my hon. Friend said, patients struggle to understand how all the doctors do not know what is going on. We got rid of the fax machine in our surgery only last year, so we are fairly behind on communication, but the Bill lays the foundation for that to be remedied. The benefits of the Bill for patients are huge—their medical knowledge at their fingertips, just as they are for clinicians and for integration. We cannot have integration without a decent single patient record. On research, our data is a national asset. I fear that a company such as Palantir owning our data is a derogation of our duty, and that we should use that data as a fantastic resource. I am also worried about Palantir’s involvement with death in Gaza and the infringement of civil liberties under the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in America. Also, at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital, it seems that the benefits that Palantir said it would bring to the operating theatre were not provable. The data is owned at the moment by GPs, and if there is a spillage of data, GP practices are unlimitedly liable. We must change that; otherwise, no one will become a GP partner. We must also be careful, because excessive and over-the-top safeguarding could obstruct the single patient record, and that would harm patient care.

• 1 Jun 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  I do agree, although that is a much bigger job. At the moment, mental health uses a different system from the hospital, and it would be great to unite them. I agree with that, but whether it would possible in the next couple of years, I am not so sure. Let me quickly go on to NHS England. The administrative burden on GP surgeries from NHSE has been huge, as my hon. Friend has mentioned, and it will be fantastic to get rid of that. When GPs undergo CQC inspections we have to do pointless protocols to fulfil the criteria, and they involve weeks of work. I want to make a little bid here for a much more supportive, lighter touch approach when looking at proper data around GP surgeries, which we would not have to prepare for. That would be very popular with GPs. I warmly welcome this Bill. It is about time we reduced the ridiculous administration around patients and allowed clinicians to properly care for patients, and it is about time we had a single patient record.

• 22 Apr 2026 · Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for bringing this really essential debate to the House. My constituent Emma Taylor tragically lost her daughter at the age of 19 and she now campaigns tirelessly for SUDEP Action as a policy champion. Does the hon. Gentleman agree with her on the need for the Government to promote proper first aid seizure training?

• 25 Mar 2026 · Public Baths and Lidos · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) for securing this debate. Lidos are important to us all—particularly to me, because I learned to swim in Grange-over-Sands lido, which is a saltwater lido that is currently closed but will hopefully be reopening shortly, and my first job was in south Oxford at the Hinksey open-air lido. Lidos mean a lot to me. We are in crisis in Stroud: last week, we found out that our lido in Stratford Park is not going to open for a number of maintenance reasons. That is a recurring theme—my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Sam Rushworth) said that his lido has not opened either. We are in a crisis, and we need extra Government support. Our lido, like many in this country, was built in 1938, and throughout the war, people swam there to relax. Lidos are lifesaving: 25% of children in this country are unable to swim when they leave primary school, which is a scandal. The health benefits, which my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Dr Cooper) just talked about, are important, and they include fitness and combating stress. On the community value of lidos, one of my constituents said: “It is no exaggeration to say that there are people who would not have been born in Stroud were it not for their parents or grandparents meeting at the lido and it is no exaggeration to say that there are people in Stroud who would now have died were it not for the enormous health benefits of swimming in the lido.” At our lido, a load of things have been found that are probably quite familiar to many others: the lining is beginning to break up and there is some worry that the pump and the valves, which are all 80 or 90 years old, are about to fail. We are very angry in Stroud because we were not told about that before. I believe that there are ways to open the pool this summer so that we can benefit from it, and then maintain it in the winter. It is said that the lido is going to be closed for safety reasons, but if it is closed, people in my constituency will go to the many rivers and lakes around Stroud, which are much more dangerous for swimmers. There have been a number of deaths in a lake in the area, so opening the lido will save lives. We need to fix the bottom of the pool quickly and fill it up for the summer, and then we need to consider a change of ownership. It is currently owned by the district council, but maybe it could be run through community ownership or with support from the Government. Many of those in charge of lidos in this country should look to Penzance’s hot saltwater pool. It was redeveloped after storm damage, and it is lovely to sit in. We need to offer day tickets. The Government should make lidos cheap and cheerful because people love them. Would the Minister consider creating a national lido fund? If the Government are serious about public health, communities and opportunity for young people, they must be serious about saving our lidos.

• 18 Mar 2026 · Social Enterprises and Community Ownership · Hansard source

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  The new community right-to-buy model has been transformative, and community ownership is at the heart of what we do in Stroud. What I have noticed, and other Members have already pointed out, is that each organisation has to go through the same learning process to get funding. And the other thing I have noticed is that a lot of local people are willing to put funds into community ownership, but they need some sort of guarantee that those funds are safe. There is a role for some regional support in that regard. Just in the last week, the Stratford Park lido in Stroud has been threatened with closure. I know that local people hope that local government will be able to step in and offer support. If that does not happen, though, community ownership will provide a guarantee for this much-loved community service. As many hon. Members have pointed out, there are many pubs—including in the Stroud area—that are now moving towards community ownership, simply because capitalism does not work very well in rural areas, but assets such as pubs are deeply valued. I will mention the Rose and Crown in Nympsfield, which was recently bought by the community. I have a personal interest in that pub, because it is about 2 miles’ lovely walk from my house and I am really glad that it has remained open. Community energy is also crucial. We have a scheme now whereby solar panels can be put on schools; we are trying to get community energy in every school in our area. However, I have campaigned for the environmental right to buy to be part of the community ownership model. I know that the Government have committed to issuing some statutory guidance, so I would like to hear some more from the Minister about that guidance. Strengthening our small towns and villages means giving actual powers to communities so that they can purchase crucial parts of our society.

• 16 Mar 2026 · GP Contract · Hansard source

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  I declare an interest as a working GP in the NHS. I probably would not be standing here if general practice had not been decimated over the last 14 years. I welcome the £485 million of extra funding, and I also welcome the fact that the capacity and access money is being channelled back into emergency GP action, so increasing the number of appointments, and increasing continuity of care by bringing back the family doctor. May I have some reassurance that the processes of advice and guidance and the referral mechanisms will not get in the way of Jess’s rule, which is about referring patients on their third presentation without any particular diagnosis?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree. War is traumatic on so many different levels, and mental health is a key part of holistic care and must be covered in any rebuilding of the healthcare system. We also need to start to look at training people in the Gaza strip and the occupied territories, because it is better to train them than to import them.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree. We must get to the bottom of those things because they must not be allowed to happen again. I propose that the Minister talks to Ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care about us, as a nation, providing healthcare to people in Gaza as much as we can. That is something that I have discussed with that Minister. We must be positive here and try to relieve the suffering of Gazans, because everything I have heard has been appalling. I thank all Members and the Minister. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered Government support for the healthcare system in Gaza.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for that timely intervention—I know she uses her professional skills in Parliament. It is important that we support the healthcare system in Gaza, and I know the Foreign Office is keen to do that.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered Government support for the healthcare system in Gaza. It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy, and I thank the Minister for attending. I also thank the Backbench Business Committee and the co-signatories of my application for the debate. I place on the record my thanks to Médecins Sans Frontières UK and Professor Ramzi Khamis for their assistance in my preparations. This debate could not have come at a more crucial time for healthcare in Gaza: in about a week’s time, many aid agencies that provide medical care will be barred from operating there. I believe there might be an urgent question to the Foreign Secretary about this very situation today, so it is a live debate. I thank all those who have asked to speak about this crucial issue. In June last year, when preparing to go to the main Chamber for Foreign Office oral questions, I received a phone call from my colleague, Dr Rebecca Inglis, who works for Healthcare Workers Watch. She told me that, just hours before, a GP in Gaza was killed by an Israeli soldier, shot in the head. I do not know why—perhaps because I am also a GP—but that really hit home about the situation in Gaza. More than 1,000 healthcare workers have now been murdered in Gaza, while countless others remain detained. As well as the healthcare system in Gaza, I would like to talk about healthocide as a concept. The deliberate targeting of healthcare workers is becoming an instrument of war, not just in Gaza but in other places in the world. Healthcare workers do not have sides and are not partisan; the only side they are on is the side of humanity. We must stop this developing situation in the world. In addition, the healthcare system in Gaza is near to total collapse after such targeting. As I said, in a week’s time many aid agencies—over 30 of them—will be barred from working in Gaza. I will, then, discuss both those issues. The targeting of healthcare workers in Gaza has been widespread and well documented. Since October 2023, 1,700 healthcare workers have been killed, hospitals have been bombed and raided, and senior doctors have been detained. I talked to one healthcare worker in Gaza who said that they could not leave the hospital in scrubs because they would be identified as a healthcare worker and arrested. Later this evening, I will host a launch event for the investigation of the Gaza aid-worker massacre on 23 March last year, when 15 emergency workers were massacred by Israeli forces. I could not come to this debate without mentioning the tragic case of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was murdered by Israeli forces alongside six of her family members. Crucially, two paramedics who were coming to save her life were also killed. Her voice will continue to haunt the world. I hope to meet her mother later today, and I want to be able to look her in the eye and say that this Government are doing all they can to prevent another such situation as happened to her daughter. Healthocide is becoming a new phenomenon in war. More than 13 years ago in Syria, for example, healthcare workers were systematically targeted by the then Syrian Government and Russian forces. The same is happening in Sudan now. There is, then, a bigger point, and we must stop this happening. This country should campaign on healthocide in the world. The situation in Gaza is grim for healthcare: not a single hospital is fully functional in the Gaza strip, while 50% of them are partially functional; only 1.5% of primary healthcare centres, or three out of 200, are fully functional; and not a single hospital is operating in northern Gaza or Rafah. Healthcare workers conduct more than 100 consultations a day; in British general practice, I am not allowed to do more than 25, so that gives a feeling of how much work these people are doing. That is putting an enormous strain on the healthcare system. An interim rapid damage and needs assessment conducted jointly by the United Nations, the EU and the World Bank found that more than $1.47 billion-worth of damages had been inflicted on the health sector, and that reconstruction will cost about $8 billion. There is a massive need to rebuild the healthcare facilities in Gaza. Two weeks ago, I heard direct testimony from a British doctor who had just returned from Gaza. She witnessed the wilful destruction of medical equipment—for example, cutting off the ends of all the ultrasound machines—and the systematic destruction of medical data. She described seeing patients arriving with sniper wounds that were so precise they were clearly made to cause lifelong disabilities and therefore harm young people in Gaza.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is spot on. Rather than evacuating children to the NHS, which was the right thing to do while war was raging, it is better to build up facilities in the area and start training doctors and other health professionals to look after people there. We are training some Gazan medical students—I have met some of them—but the future lies in building up medical training in the area.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is spot on. The most important thing is peace, so that we can build a healthcare system. Although there has been a ceasefire, a lot of Palestinians are still dying. We first need to make a stable environment, and we need to be pragmatic. While there are functioning hospitals in East Jerusalem, we should be able to take people out of Gaza and get them treated there. As I have outlined, the healthcare facilities in Gaza have been severely damaged. I will come later to the possibility of bringing in mobile units on a short-term basis, but in the long term we need to build up the hospital sector.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I thank all the speakers who have contributed to what has been a very passionate debate. I have spoken to many British doctors who have worked in Gaza, and what we are presenting here—the sabotage of the healthcare system—is real. It is going on now, and we must deal with it rather than brushing it under the carpet and blaming Hamas.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for a point well made. It is even more basic than that: we need to allow medicines into Gaza, which are not currently being transported. Other items such as prosthetic limbs are also very important, so the border needs to open up. Humanitarian aid, not just medical aid, is needed in Gaza. We need to open the borders and allow relief in. In a sinister development, snipers seem to be targeting specific areas of the body, such as the brachial plexus, damage to which causes long-term disability, and the sciatic nerve in the leg, damage to which causes permanent paralysis. I know that war is evil in many aspects, but we should call out that cynical approach. Public health is incredibly important for people in the Gaza strip: 89% of water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged. One of the most important things is to get clean water to people. There are about 250,000 cases of acute malnutrition in children this year, as well as 37,000 cases in pregnant and breastfeeding women. Violence against women and the effects on reproductive health have led to a 41% fall in births in Gaza, as well as a high number of maternal deaths, miscarriages and newborn mortality. We have seen strikes on maternity wards and the destruction of Gaza’s largest in vitro fertilisation clinic, wiping out 5,000 embryos. Premature births have also sharply increased, with one in five newborns requiring intensive neonatal care. Respiratory infections, acute watery diarrhoea and skin infections are widespread. This is a particularly horrifying statistic: 11 children have reportedly died from hypothermia this winter, including a two-month-old baby and one-year-old child. There are many serious problems, among which I would like to pinpoint Guillain-Barré syndrome, which is very rare—as a doctor, I have seen it only once—and it leads to increasing paralysis and often requires ventilation. The causes are often difficult to identify, but there seems to be a Guillain-Barré syndrome epidemic in Gaza. It may be triggered by infections or other, possibly sinister, causes. Doctors in Gaza have tried to take away soil samples but have been restricted. I do not know what is causing it but Guillain-Barré is an acute problem with serious repercussions. On top of all that, we now face an even more alarming development: 37 international non-governmental organisations, including Médecins Sans Frontières, face deregistration on 1 March—next week. If that proceeds, they will no longer be able legally to operate in Gaza, the west bank or East Jerusalem. MSF alone supports one in five hospital beds in Gaza and assists in one in three births. In 2025, it performed 22,000 surgical operations, handled more than 100,000 trauma cases and carried out more than 800,000 out-patient consultations. If these organisations are forced out, the consequences will be catastrophic. Will my hon. Friend the Minister urge Israeli officials to reopen the humanitarian medical corridor, allowing critically ill patients to travel to East Jerusalem and the west bank for treatment? The World Health Organisation holds a list of approximately 18,000 urgent cases, yet permission to travel that short distance for care—including urgent cancer care—has been routinely denied. Will he use any possible leverage we have to ensure that the Israeli Government immediately pause the deregistration of international humanitarian aid organisations and negotiate their continued presence in Gaza? As my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) mentioned, we need to establish a medical supply chain that allows medicine and equipment into Gaza immediately, and we need to find rapid alternatives to destroyed facilities. For example, mobile operating theatres could be in Gaza within 48 hours. They are about the size of articulated lorries and could be driven in, and they are self-maintaining. We could be operating with them almost immediately. We must push to allow them into Gaza. Also, we need to start rebuilding hospitals and build up field hospitals as well. There is a lot to do, but we must start on this process. Will the Minister work with our allies to ensure that attacks on healthcare are investigated and documented wherever they occur, and that perpetrators are prosecuted? Healthocide must become recognised and exposed and we must deter it in the world. I was refused entry into the west bank last year. I realise that it is very difficult to get any leverage over the Israeli Government to influence their decisions—I respect that—and I understand that the Foreign Office tries to do what it can, but is it time to impose proper, full sanctions on Israel if it does not resolve this itself? I would like to hear the Minister’s opinion on that. Healthcare workers in Gaza are performing the most difficult and courageous work imaginable, often literally under fire. They deserve protection and their patients deserve care. We cannot simply look away. We need action now.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  Indeed, and many of us have campaigned on the medical evacuation of young people. The Minister has delivered on that, although there have been some problems recently, which he may address. A key issue in Gaza to which I will return is that currently the medical evacuation of anyone to East Jerusalem, which is still in the occupied territories, is not allowed. East Jerusalem has some well-functioning hospitals with capacity, and that is one of the issues we need to address.

• 2 Feb 2026 · Support for Defence SMEs · Hansard source

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  1. What steps he is taking to support small and medium-sized businesses in the defence sector.

• 2 Feb 2026 · Support for Defence SMEs · Hansard source

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  Impcross, a company in my constituency of Stroud, is the sole supplier of flight-critical parts to the Typhoon aircraft and a key supplier for the Vanguard submarine fleet. It is on the verge of collapse, and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is filing to wind it up, after the owners were prohibited from selling their business on the grounds of national security and sovereign capability. What support is the Secretary of State offering to critical suppliers that are struggling financially, and will he meet me to discuss what steps we can take to support this company?

• 27 Jan 2026 · Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill · Hansard source

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  I will keep this short, because many of my points have already been made. I think that there are two main problems. The first is about priority for our medical graduates. To be honest, I was a little bit surprised when, about a year ago, I found out that they are not prioritised. That clearly is not reciprocated around the world, and we need to change it. The other problem is our training numbers. If we are training medical students up to graduation, we must ensure that the number training fit into our postgraduate training, because otherwise it is crazy, which is the situation we find ourselves in. I have been a GP trainer for about 25 years, and many of the doctors I have trained as GPS have gone off to Australia. My favourite went to New Zealand and is staying there, although I keep trying to entice her back by saying how great it is that the NHS is improving. GP training is unique. It involves 18 months in general practice in a one-on-one apprenticeship-type system, and I think the system in the UK is one of the best in the world. It teaches continuity of care for patients, and it also teaches the skills that are bringing back the family doctor. This is about the doctor being the gatekeeper to the NHS, and also protecting the patient against the NHS and from over-investigation. In fact, I always think an MP is bit like a GP, because a GP has to know a little about absolutely everything, which is the same for an MP. I would like to give a shout-out to my Stroud GP trainers group, who visited Parliament last year, and also to the 8,000 GP trainers in this country, who do a fantastic job, often going above and beyond their responsibilities. I would like to mention international medical graduates—I have had a number of them. At the moment, 50% of those training in the UK are international medical graduates—I understand that in Teesside the figure is 100%—and we are depending on these people to provide some of our general practice. I have had fantastic trainees from India, Spain, Germany and Algeria, who have all become fantastic NHS GPs. As I have said, we must ensure that they are welcome and treasured in the NHS, because they constitute a large body of GPs in our system. Although we need to prioritise UK graduates, we must not put off international graduates from coming and helping us to deliver a new NHS. I would like to make another point about medical training. Postgraduate medical training goes through a process, and it is important that we recalibrate this so that the number of training spots exactly matches the number of our medical graduates. That is particularly true for anaesthetists. There are bottlenecks in anaesthetics training, and if we could relieve those bottlenecks, we would get more anaesthetists training and could start to bring down our waiting list. However, that will involve a decent workforce plan, which I understand we are developing, and proper planning for the future, so we can get our waiting lists down and deliver a better NHS for everyone. To conclude, after years of failure and the neglect of our home-grown talent, this Government are taking action so that our doctors can train, stay and serve the communities that need them most. I urge Members to support the Bill.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill · Hansard source

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  I commend the speed with which my right hon. Friend has brought this legislation to Parliament. I have been a GP trainer for 25 years. Fifty per cent of GP trainees are international medical graduates, and there has been some disquiet from them. Will he reassure our international medical graduates that they are welcome and treasured in the health service?

• 27 Jan 2026 · Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill · Hansard source

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  Will the Secretary of State give way?

• 26 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T9. In Stroud, we have secured £90,000 in funding for a scheme that places employment social prescribers and occupational therapists into GP practices. They support people who are out of work and in receipt of benefits to return to employment, improving their health and reducing their reliance on welfare. Will the Minister consider rolling out that model nationally, recognising that work is often the best cure for sickness?

• 20 Jan 2026 · Domestic Abuse-related Deaths: NHS Prevention · Hansard source

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  I know that my hon. Friend is invested in trying to help women subject to domestic abuse. Coercive control is very important as it often stops women presenting to healthcare workers. As I have said before, one key thing as a clinician is that we have to be brave and ask the man to step out so that it is possible to have a proper conversation. They can often resist that and can get violent as well. It is important that we take a brave view on this to protect women in general. To conclude, if we get those three things right—funding, recognition, and a comprehensive and integrated care service—we can move forward to a service that repeatedly sees and recognises abuse and immediately steps in to stop it. That is the shift I am calling for in this debate, and it is one that could save many lives.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Domestic Abuse-related Deaths: NHS Prevention · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered the role of the NHS in preventing domestic homicides and domestic abuse-related deaths. It is a pleasure to serve under you, Sir John. I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for giving me the opportunity to open a debate on the role of the NHS in preventing domestic abuse and dealing with it when it presents to the NHS. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato), who, since we secured this debate, has been appointed as the violence against women and girls adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care. I think we shall hear from her later. I also place on the record my thanks to Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, IRISi, Respect and, from my own constituency, Stroud Women’s Refuge, which have really helped me with this speech. I declare an interest: I am a working GP and sometimes need to deal with these issues. On average, five people a week die as a result of domestic abuse in this country. Now, there are actually more suicides related to domestic abuse than homicides. Behind each of those statistics is a life lost and a family devastated. In far too many cases, there has been repeated contact with health services and there have been moments when the health service could have intervened. The NHS is the most consistent point of contact for people living with abuse. Each year, about half a million people seek support from the NHS in relation to domestic abuse and 85% of them ask at least five times before they receive effective support. That is not because clinicians do not care. It is really about recognition of domestic abuse and getting referral services that are easy to understand and well known in practice. If we are serious about preventing domestic abuse, we must be serious about the role of the NHS—not just in primary care, but across all mental health services, across maternity services, through emergency departments and through community care. It has to go right across the NHS and not just primary care. This is really a debate about making sure that we do not miss chances and that we provide meaningful intervention when people present with signs of domestic abuse. The Government have committed to delivering on our promise to halve violence against women and girls by 2029, and I welcome the comprehensive strategy to tackle that. For too long, support services have been unable to support victims and survivors effectively. They have been without sufficient resources and, in too many cases, women and girls have not been able to access the support they need. Therefore I welcome the Government’s supporting victims through the largest ever investment of £550 million in victim support over the next three years and an additional £5 million each year from the Department of Health and Social Care. I would like to say a few things about how GPs specifically are often the first port of call, and how presentation to GPs is incredibly important for recognition of this issue. I shall quote from Killed Women, an organisation for bereaved families of women who have been killed by men in the UK. It says about one woman: “She had gone to the GP a few days before her death as she couldn’t take any more. She was only offered antidepressants. On the day of her murder when I spoke to her, she said they are not helping and she had had enough. She said the GP knew her situation but yet again she was failed there.” That shows that simply giving out antidepressants is not the right strategy. We need to build support around women subjected to domestic abuse. Often, they present with mental health issues and will not give any details of their abuse. One thing that I teach GPs in training is that there is something called a hidden agenda. Women particularly will present to the GP but they will not say that they are being abused; they will have other symptoms. We must recognise that presentation straightaway, and there are ways we can recognise it. Sometimes the woman in question will present with a partner and not feel comfortable talking about the situation. I often ask the partner to leave the consultation and I speak to the woman individually, which can be an effective way to find out exactly what is happening. We need to be aware that women in this situation are often nervous and walking on eggshells. We also have to recognise that often there are physical injuries, often of different ages. We sometimes see women presenting in sunglasses to cover up a black eye, for example. The health profession must recognise all those symptoms. As I have said before, there are very high rates of mental health problems. Women who are being abused often present with symptoms of depression caused by domestic abuse, so we need to ask those women whether anything is going on at home. Female survivors of domestic abuse are three times more likely to develop mental illness. There are also other high risk periods, such as when women are pregnant and they often have poor outcomes in those situations. We must also be aware, across the health service, that women might disclose domestic abuse. Health visitors are in an ideal situation to hear about that type of thing and must be aware of that potentiality. In A&E, women often present with overdose, and underneath that there is domestic abuse. Midwives are often presented with this, as are mental health workers, and even gynaecology services as well as social services. Often women present to the health service with different symptoms, but that is a cry for help, which we must recognise. What do we need to do to support those women? One thing I am delighted about is the concept of steps to safety. The Department of Health and Social Care will roll out a domestic abuse and sexual violence referral service across integrated care boards, giving GPs the tools and ability to identify and refer victim-survivors to support. What is important is that it is a simple service with one number. If it is not simple, it will not be used by health services, and that is incredibly important. It is also important that we make use of existing resources. I visited the sexual abuse centre at Gloucestershire Royal hospital recently. It is a fantastic resource with really well-trained staff who are available 24/7. It is really important, particularly in practices, to have a safeguarding or domestic abuse lead who is totally up to date with what is available, because quite often services change and GPs themselves are not on top of that. So that is important as well. Can I also stress the importance of women’s refuges? In Stroud we have a fantastic refuge. It does not advertise itself, for obvious reasons, and the people working there are simply amazing, supporting women who have difficulties, and often their children as well. It is inspiring to see the work they do, and it is important that those services are available immediately if women feel in danger. Can I also make a plea for support for the perpetrators of abuse? It is usually men that perpetrate abuse and they often abuse at least five times, so it is important to catch them the first time and institute really good treatment and management for them. There are often drugs, alcohol or mental health issues behind their problems, so we must deal with that before they continue to abuse. Although that is controversial, I think that is incredibly important as well. What do we need for the whole of our health strategy? We need things to be co-ordinated. There is a suggestion that we have domestic abuse co-ordinators for a group of GP practices. As I said, I think we need to have leads in general practice, with one person leading who can keep up to date and keep reminding the other members of staff that that is really important. When we are training in primary care, it is important to train everyone. For example, the receptionists in primary care are often aware of the people coming in. They need training to detect domestic abuse so that they can inform the doctors. It is a whole team approach, with pharmacists, nurses and physiotherapists also needing to be trained and aware of the signs and symptoms of domestic abuse. That training should be essential for everyone, but I want to step back from mandatory training. Many people in the health service find that irksome and a tick-box exercise. I do not want domestic abuse training to simply be a tick box where someone goes on an hour-long course every year and that is it. We need a more integrated approach and it needs to be part of an appraisal process so that every doctor, nurse and healthcare worker is aware and trained in domestic abuse—but without it being made mandatory so that it does not simply become a course that people must go on, but is instead properly integrated into the service. Last of all—and this seems incredible in this day and age—we need to share data between all of the health services, for example, A&E, GPs and mental health. We often do not get any information from mental health. It is important that we get that data sharing up to speed because domestic abuse can present in many different situations in the NHS and it is important that everyone is aware of the risks. In terms of funding, the £5 million a year from the Department of Health and Social Care is a good first step, but we need quite a lot more than that to bring this service to the fore. In conclusion, if we are serious about preventing domestic abuse and the deaths that so often follow it, then the NHS must be properly equipped to play its full role. There are three points that I would like to make. The first is on funding, and around training and investing in services that will really help in domestic abuse. Those steps to safety are key because it must be simple for women to access those services. It is also important that wherever a woman presents to the NHS, that the person they present to is trained to detect domestic abuse and aware of what is available for that woman. Finally, we must have a comprehensive whole-health plan for the NHS and tackling domestic abuse and violence against women and girls. That must cover primary care, mental health, maternity and accident and emergency services—and I would like it to be published by 2027 at the latest.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Domestic Abuse-related Deaths: NHS Prevention · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister and all those who spoke and brought their fantastic experience of this really difficult problem. Let me say two very simple things. We need to imprint on healthcare workers the idea “Think domestic abuse”, so that we do not miss it. If someone presents, we must have in the back of our minds the question, “Is this domestic abuse?” That will help to identify victims much earlier. After that, we need to enable them to be referred in a simple and effective process that brings them support immediately. I thank everyone here, and you, Sir John, for chairing the debate.