Gen Kitchen
Main Page: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough and Rushden)Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Gen Kitchen (Wellingborough and Rushden) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. It is my first time speaking from the Front Bench, so please bear with me if I get my papers mixed up. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley) for securing this debate, and for speaking so passionately on the subject, using his decades of experience of caring for patients in the NHS. I also thank all the other Members for their insightful contributions, and the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate, especially because it is taking place during Diabetes Week. We have had more than 10 meaningful contributions, and I wish to respond to them individually. I have noted them all down, and if I do not get to them all, I will ask the relevant Minister to respond.
My hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket is concerned about economic inactivity, hospital-to-community care, the digital transition for patients, and research and development. I have, in my pack, full answers for my hon. Friend.
The hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) spoke passionately about sight loss and his time as an optometrist, as well as about macular degeneration and Charles Bonnet syndrome.
Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)
My office is supporting a vulnerable, elderly constituent, who has multiple sclerosis and suffers nervous breakdowns, having also battled hip cancer and undergone a hip replacement. Does the Minister agree that the failure to provide people with social care and early-intervention support can often expose individuals to a cascade of further suffering, and of course increases the strain on our health services?
Gen Kitchen
I agree, and I will come to comorbidities and some of the strategies in the 10-year plan later in my speech.
My hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume) spoke about endometriosis. I was very sorry and dismayed to hear about her constituent Angela Tiernan, who has endometriosis in her chest cavity. I assure my hon. Friend that urgent action to tackle gynaecological care is taking place through the elective reform plan, and we are having significant successes in that area.
I thank the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde). I was also dismayed to hear about his constituent Andy’s benign brain tumour. I was particularly dismayed to hear about his treatment, and the transfer of services to the community. The hon. Member rightly asked about the administration from care to community. I assure him that further work on the national neighbourhood health implementation programme will come after the 10-year health plan. I see that issue all the time in Wellingborough and Rushden, as he does in his constituency. As a semi-rural community, we have very little in the way of community healthcare, so I am also pushing that forward. I will ask the relevant Minister to respond directly to him about Andy’s case.
My hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy) gave an impassioned and personal speech about his father’s stroke. I am grateful to him for highlighting and raising awareness of the F-A-S-T action that people can take if they think that someone is having a stroke. I reassure him that the NHS is actively working to provide access to 24/7 thrombectomy services across England and Wales.
I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for his speech. As he said, health in Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly, but I assure him that the Secretary of State is regularly engaging with his counterpart across the sea on all the issues that the hon. Member outlined, which were many. He told his personal story of diabetes, and spoke about COPD, cancer, cystic fibrosis and many other conditions. I share the sentiment that it is marvellous that so many people will now survive cancer. As he may know, my father is currently undergoing treatment for his terminal diagnosis. I reassure the hon. Member—and it gives me some hope—that the national cancer plan is coming.
We had a lovely intervention from the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Tom Gordon), who is also the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for diabetes. I thank him for his work on diabetes awareness.
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones) for her many years of service as a physiotherapist, and I thank her daughter for her many years of service as a doctor. My hon. Friend rightly raised arthritis and all the great work that she did as a physiotherapist. I am sure that she is aware of the great work that the National Institute for Health and Care Research is doing with Versus Arthritis in funding dedicated UK MSK translational research. She will also be aware that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published expert guidance on early diagnosis to speed up that process. She will know that the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions are committed to supporting disabled people and people with long-term health conditions. A range of support is available already, including some that joins up the health and employment support systems. I agree that we need to get it right first time, because a system that has an over 90% appeal approval rating is not getting it right first time.
The hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) and I spent a lot of time together on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill Committee; I am glad to be able to finally respond to him on things. I was very sorry to hear about his friend Emma and his constituents Terry and Jess, who have a range of health conditions. I was particularly dismayed to hear that Terry had no one named person in his multidisciplinary team. That should not be happening.
The hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson) asked many questions, which I have noted down. If she does not get the answers in my speech, I will press the relevant Minister to write to her. She asked about training and apprenticeships. To reassure her, a new workforce plan will be coming after the 10-year plan, and the 10-year plan will be coming in the summer. I would love a community diagnostic centre as well; in a semi-rural constituency, it is very hard to get care. I will press a Minister to write to her, following the spending review.
I pass on apologies from my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton), the Minister for public health and prevention, who is passionate about improving care and support for people with long-term conditions, and had really looked forward to responding to this debate. Unfortunately, due to the medical emergency of a family member with a long-term condition, she is unable to be in Westminster this week, but she hopes to return to Westminster as soon as possible to write the letters that I have promised on her behalf.
This is a busy afternoon in the House for the Health Department, with my hon. Friend the Minister for Secondary Care currently representing the Government in a general debate on the fifth anniversary of the covid pandemic in the main Chamber, and my hon. Friend the Minister for Care currently serving on the Mental Health Bill Committee. I am pleased to be here to respond on their behalf to such an important debate, and I hope that my remarks demonstrate that improving support for those with long-term conditions is a priority for this Government.
Over 15 million people in England have long-term health conditions, and many people live with two or more. Every one of us has a constituent living with a long-term condition; even some of my colleagues in this place who have shared their stories today have long- term conditions. Given that the prevalence of long-term conditions generally increases with age, the number of people with such conditions in our society will only get bigger, as new treatments and technologies keep us alive for longer. Let me be clear: that is to be celebrated. It is a wonderful and amazing thing to happen, but it is critical that we have the health architecture in place to manage those changes.
That is why building a health service and care system fit for the future is central to this Government’s mission. Yesterday, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the multi-year spending review, which prioritises health, with a record investment in the health and social care system that will improve treatment, support and outcomes, and help those living with long-term conditions. The Government are providing £29 billion more in day-to-day funding in real terms than in 2023-24, and the largest-ever health capital budget, with a £2.3 billion real-terms increase in spending over the spending review period.
The spending review puts the NHS on a sustainable footing by cutting the waiting lists so that by the end of the Parliament 92% of patients will start consultant-led treatment for non-urgent health conditions within 18 weeks of referral, delivering on the Prime Minister’s plan for change and commitment to prioritising people’s health. The settlement also supports the shift from analogue to digital, with a total investment of up to £10 billion in NHS technology and transformation between 2026-27 and 2028-29—an almost 50% increase from 2025-26.
Colleagues will know that we have undertaken the biggest ever conversation about the NHS since its creation. We have received more than 270,000 contributions and had almost 2 million visits to our online portal, a significant number of which were from people with long-term conditions. We will ensure that their voices are heard in the 10-year plan. The plan will deliver three big shifts to ensure the NHS is fit for the future: from hospital to community, which we have spoken about a lot this afternoon; from analogue to digital, which was also mentioned a couple of times; and from sickness to prevention. All three are relevant to improving the diagnosis, care and management of long-term conditions in all parts of the country.
We will see more tests and scans in the community, in high street settings, to reduce the need for people to take multiple trips to hospital to get diagnosed—a particular issue in Wellingborough and Rushden, because we do not have a hospital or a bus service. We will see better joint working in neighbourhoods between primary care, pharmacies, community healthcare, such as district nurses, and social care to help people to manage multiple long- term conditions at home. That will help them access the right self-care professional support so that they are not passed from service to service, and will reduce the need for emergency hospital admissions. Again, that is brilliant for Wellingborough and Rushden, as I am sure it is for all hon. Members’ constituencies.
We will see better access to technology that helps people to manage their health conditions in their own home, such as apps and wearable technologies, to reduce the need to go to hospital or other healthcare settings. We will have better, joined-up access to healthcare records, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket suggested, to ensure that those working in health and care are better able to support patients in planned and emergency care, and that patients feel confident that the clinicians who are treating them know about their conditions.
There have been many mentions in the debate of the changes to welfare and economic activity. We recognise that people with long-term conditions face multiple challenges in trying to remain in work. Long-term sickness continues to be the most common reason for economic inactivity among the working-age population.
Alison Hume
I congratulate my hon. Friend on her turn speaking from the Front Bench. DWP analysis suggests that people with long-term conditions such as arthritis are more likely than most to be affected by the changes to PIP. Does she acknowledge that taking away PIP from people with long-term conditions such as arthritis, which can fluctuate and vary, could be devastating?
Gen Kitchen
I acknowledge that those with long-term health conditions such as arthritis will rightly be very worried about what is happening, considering that only a Green Paper, rather than a Bill, has been published. I assure my hon. Friend that the Department of Health and Social Care and the DWP are committed to supporting disabled people and those with long-term health conditions. There is already a range of support that is online and working, but we want those who are in work and can stay there to do so, and we want people to get back to work. Those measures include joining up the health and employment support around the individual through employment advisers, NHS talking therapies, individual placements, support in primary care and WorkWell, as well as work coaches and disability employment advisers at the jobcentre. That will get people back to work if they can, and keep working people in work.
We have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals. Things currently online include WorkWell, and Connect to Work is coming online as we speak. We are also mobilising eight place-based trailblazers to reduce economic inactivity in places where we can see that it is really key.
On elective care, our plan for change is clear that our immediate priority on health is to reduce elective waiting lists to meet the NHS constitutional standard that 92% should wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment. We have hit that pledge already—more than 2 million more elective care appointments have happened early—and we have now exceeded it by delivering over 3.5 million more appointments.
Gen Kitchen
Thank you. In fact, the waiting list has been cut by over 200,000 since we came into office.
Another topic touched on a lot was social care, its effective use and access to it. Effective and accessible social care is crucial for people with long-term conditions.
Dr Johnson
There is a question that I have been wondering about. Baroness Casey is doing a report for the Government on social care, but she is also doing a report on child abuse. We were told initially that those reports would run consecutively, but they appear now to be running concurrently. I do not necessarily expect the Minister to be able to answer the question now, because she is standing in for somebody else, but it would be helpful if she could get us a written answer on what proportion of Baroness Casey’s time is currently devoted to the Home Office, and what proportion to healthcare.
Gen Kitchen
I was coming on to Baroness Louise Casey’s report to the Prime Minister. I will try to get an answer from the Departments she is working with. Hon. Members will be aware that we have launched the independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps to delivering a national care service. It is chaired by Baroness Louise Casey and reporting to the Prime Minister. The commission will make clear recommendations for how to rebuild social care systems to meet the current and future needs of the population, but I will make sure that Ministers write to the hon. Lady on her specific question.
We also had a small discussion on unpaid carers and how crucial they are for individuals with long-term conditions. These unpaid carers, often family members or spouses, do vital and essential work that helps people to manage their long-term conditions and also helps the health service. Lord Darzi’s independent review of the national health service highlighted the need for a fresh approach to supporting and involving unpaid carers, to improve outcomes across the board for carers and those they care for. Those findings are being carefully considered as part of our 10-year plan to reform and modernise the NHS. We continue to shape our plans to reform adult social care, including through the national care service.
We cannot underestimate the toll of living with one or more long-term health conditions. The hon. Member for Tiverton and Minehead (Rachel Gilmour) made an intervention about the mental health support that is needed for long-term conditions. Living with one or more long-term conditions can put significant stress on an individual’s mental wellbeing and can lead to stress, worry and depression—all of which come to our constituency doors a lot. Two thirds of people with a common mental health problem also have a long-term physical condition. That is why the NHS is prioritising the development of NHS talking therapies to include a focus on people with long-term conditions. These services bring together mental and physical health providers to work in a co-ordinated way to achieve the best outcomes for all.
I feel that I have been speaking a rather long time, so, to conclude, I once again thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, for securing the debate, and all those who have spoken. The debate has been extremely wide ranging and covered conditions from across the spectrum, many of which I cannot pronounce. I hope that Ministers will be able to write back to hon. Members and reassure them on some of the questions they have raised today.
It is understandable that we have covered so many topics, given the sheer number and breadth of long-term conditions and the multitude of challenges they pose for individuals, their families, their communities and the healthcare system. For that reason, as I said, I have not been able to cover in full the well-informed points that were made throughout the course of the debate. However, my hon. Friend the Minister for public health and prevention has committed to writing to all hon. Members who have raised specific concerns today.