NHS: Winter Preparedness

Adnan Hussain Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I certainly hope that when making the decision about whether to go to work this week, resident doctors bear in mind the pressures that the NHS is under, the consequences of their actions on their colleagues not just this week but in the coming weeks, and—crucially —the impact that risks having on patients, which is the most important consideration. I ask resident doctors to bear in mind that we offered the BMA the chance to postpone the strike action into January. I think that is a reasonable offer, and the BMA’s rejection of it shows how thoroughly unreasonable it is. I follow what resident doctors say, and I worry that too many seem to think that these strikes are consequence free for everyone but the Government. If only that were true, and if only the strike was not placing intolerable pressure on other NHS staff, and an intolerable risk to patients, which I think is unconscionable.

[Mr Adnan Hussain (Blackburn) (Ind)]

Coroners have warned that without change, unsafe pressures and delayed care at Royal Blackburn hospital risk further deaths. Blackburn also has one of the worst GP-patient ratios in the country, with over 3,000 patients per GP, leaving many of my constituents unable to access early care and pushed into A&E out of desperation, not misuse, only to face fear and delay. With winter admissions rising, what targeted support for staffing, bed capacity and GP access will be provided to places such as Blackburn? Does the Secretary of State accept that winter resilience is impossible without fixing primary care in the hardest hit communities, such as Blackburn?

[Wes Streeting]

Thanks to the decisions taken by this Labour Government, we have increased funding for general practice by £1.1 billion, we deployed not just 1,000 more GPs to the frontline in our first year as promised but 2,500 and, through reforms to the Carr-Hill formula, we are restoring the deprivation link to health funding. As a result, the poorest communities with the greatest needs are receiving greater care, support and investment. All this is undoing the damage left by 14 years of Conservative government and it is only possible because people chose to elect Labour MPs.