NHS Urgent Care: Staffordshire

Debate between John Slinger and Josh Newbury

Monday 26th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) (Lab)]

I am grateful for the opportunity to lead this debate on NHS urgent care in my brilliant county of Staffordshire, and particularly on what that means for my constituents in the towns and villages of Cannock Chase. I start by paying immense tribute to the dedicated staff who work in our NHS and in social care. From district nurses and general practice, through to care homes and A&E departments, the passion and expertise that they bring enriches and saves lives.

When I was elected, I knew that there were many local issues that I would need to get to grips with quickly, but among many priorities, I knew that I had to campaign on urgent healthcare first. It is a subject that my constituents have raised with me frequently, on doorsteps, in emails, at surgeries and in conversations with local clinicians. It goes right to the heart of whether people feel confident that our NHS will be there for them when they need it, and that our area is well served.

Before being elected to serve Cannock Chase, I worked in the NHS, not in a clinical role but in communications, and that experience has very much stayed with me. It means that I approach debates like this with a great deal of respect for the people working in the system, and with an understanding of just how complex it is. I know how difficult decisions can be, how stretched staff are and how long it can take to move from strategy to delivery, but I also know that delay and uncertainty have consequences for patients, staff morale and public trust.

For my constituents, uncertainty around access to urgent care has become an all too familiar experience. The minor injuries unit at Cannock Chase hospital was temporarily closed in March 2020, so that staff could be redeployed to the covid wards at New Cross hospital. At the time that decision was entirely understandable and widely supported locally. The NHS was facing an unprecedented emergency and staff stepped up in extraordinary ways to protect lives.

At the same time, it was said that the closure was temporary and that the Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust planned to reopen the MIU once pandemic-related workforce pressures eased, but, nearly six years on, that temporary closure feels anything but temporary. In fact, two years after the closure, in March 2022, there was significant fanfare around the possibility of a reopening that summer. Many residents understandably took that as a sign of progress, but ultimately nothing came of it.

After more than two years of radio silence, in August 2024 the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent integrated care board announced a wholesale review of urgent care services across the county, in the light of new national standards for urgent treatment centres. Although the proposals are to upgrade urgent care facilities in other hospitals in Stafford, Burton-upon-Trent, Lichfield, Tamworth and Stoke-on-Trent to meet those UTC standards, they included the permanent closure of Cannock’s minor injuries unit, which would effectively end the remaining hope among my constituents and others in neighbouring constituencies that urgent care will come back to our area. The reasons given included a belief that need from the Cannock Chase area was already being met by other nearby hospitals and, above all, a refusal from the Royal Wolverhampton NHS trust to support urgent care provision at Cannock Chase hospital. A comment made to me by a member of the ICB’s staff was, “They just aren’t interested”.

The way that these proposals were communicated locally was very poor, and I have been very frank with the ICB about that. The reaction of the people who saw the ICB’s document was understandably one of huge concern, particularly among older residents, people with chronic conditions and those who cannot drive. The ICB planned only one public engagement event in my constituency, which was in the afternoon on a weekday, and even that attracted far more people than it had planned for. Although many did not get to hear about the event, the room was still packed, and very frank views were given. At my request, the ICB held a second event, which was on an evening, and I am told that that was well attended too.

We were told that the ICB expected to take its final proposals to health scrutiny at Staffordshire county council in the spring of last year, with a full public consultation in the summer if the committee deemed it necessary, yet months passed without any update, adding to the uncertainty and frustration locally. Let me be clear that I am not standing here to criticise the ICB for the sake of it; I meet it regularly, and at those meetings we have serious, detailed discussions about patient flow, demand, workforce and outcomes.

I understand that good decision making in the NHS takes time, but I believe that prolonged uncertainty comes at a cost. Every month that passes without clarity leaves patients unsure where to go when they need care, staff unsure what the future holds for their workplace, and communities feeling that decisions are being made far away, rather than with an understanding of local reality.

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

I note what my hon. Friend says about his integrated care board. I have very positive meetings with my ICB, but a similar situation is affecting the town of Rugby, which I represent. The urgent treatment centre is nurse-led, and we very much want there to be a doctor-led treatment centre. A review is under way, but my constituents and I are simply not aware of its end date. That causes the kind of concern around services that you talk about—

[John Slinger]

That my hon. Friend talks about.

[Josh Newbury]

I saw a post from my hon. Friend on Facebook earlier today about this very matter. I know that he is fighting very hard on that on behalf of his constituents. I hope that my integrated care board listens to the concerns of my constituents, and I hope that that is reflected in Coventry and Warwickshire and that he can get some progress on a doctor-led unit.

For the past six years, people in Cannock Chase have had to travel to Stafford, Lichfield, Walsall or Wolverhampton for care that they would once have accessed locally. That is not simply an inconvenience; it undermines the objectives of urgent care reform, increases pressure on neighbouring hospitals and pushes more people into A&E. That is exactly the opposite of what the urgent care review is supposed to achieve.

Most worrying of all are those who are not seeking care at all. Not everybody can drive and not everyone has access to reliable public transport, particularly in places such as Staffordshire. When patients are faced with long, complicated journeys for what should be straightforward local treatment, many simply put it off; conditions then worsen, complications develop and people ultimately end up needing an ambulance for something that could have been treated earlier, more cheaply and closer to home.

At the engagement events and in conversations with me since, constituents have told me that the MIU was a lifeline when they did not need A&E but their GP felt they needed to go to hospital. Cannock Chase hospital is very close to a bus station, and most people locally can catch a single bus to reach it; in contrast, travelling by bus to MIUs in Lichfield, Stafford, Walsall or Wolverhampton can be difficult, often involving multiple changes and long journey times. As a result, many of my constituents are paying for taxis instead, which is a significant financial burden.

The issue becomes even clearer when we look at the demographics of my constituency. It has a slightly older population than the national average, with more than 19,500 residents aged 65 and over—around a fifth of our population. Almost half of those older residents—more than 9,300 people—are living with a long-term health condition, a higher proportion than we see nationally. These are the residents who are most likely to need timely urgent care, who are more vulnerable to deterioration if treatment is delayed, and who often face the greatest barriers when services are not available locally. The NHS’s own data shows higher attendances at both surrounding MIUs since ours closed, but not by the total amount of previous activity at Cannock Chase hospital, backing up what residents have been telling us about not always seeking care.

We can also see how these pressures play out in practice at nearby hospitals that many of my constituents rely on when local urgent care is not available. Although Royal Stoke University hospital is not in my constituency, it is a key part of the wider system and serves residents right across our county. In the final quarter of last year alone, that hospital saw more than 33,000 A&E attendances, and over 6,800 patients waited more than 12 hours to be admitted or discharged. That is more than one in five attendances—double the national average—placing the hospital among the most pressured in the country.

Co-operative Sector: Government Support

Debate between John Slinger and Josh Newbury

Tuesday 21st October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton (Jim McMahon) on securing this important debate and his impassioned opening speech. I can think of no greater or better-informed champion of our co-operative sector. Although he is a huge loss to the Front Bench, he is our gain in this debate.

I associate myself with the remarks about the incredible work of the Co-operative party, of which I have been a proud member since the age of 18, and Co-operatives UK. The co-operative and mutuals sector is one of the UK’s quiet success stories, with an economic contribution seven times greater than its share of the business population. It is not a sector that is standing still. The number of employee-owned businesses has trebled in five years, and the number of community-owned pubs has grown by 51% in the same period, bucking wider high street trends.

Why does that matter? Because co-operatives are more resilient, more likely to pay the minimum wage and simply more inclusive. In my constituency of Cannock Chase and across the country, we see that in community energy groups, credit unions, housing co-ops and the pub that stays open because the community refused to let it call last orders for the final time. Co-ops root wealth locally and give people genuine power over the things that shape their lives.

In my patch, for example, 10 years ago, under a Labour and Co-operative council, Chase Community Solar partnered with Cannock Chase district council to install solar panels on 314 council-owned bungalows, cutting the bills of tenants by between one third and a half. Five years later, after becoming a Labour and Co-operative councillor, I was proud to be one of the cabinet members who signed off on an investment that enabled a further collaboration with Chase Community Solar, that time alongside the charity Beat the Cold, to install batteries to make even more clean energy and cut bills even further.

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

I declare an interest as a member of the Co-operative party. My hon. Friend is speaking about renewable energy. Does he agree that one benefit of the co-operative movement and principles is that it can be innovative for local communities? A constituent of mine approached me about a problem faced by people living in flats: they do not have driveways and cannot charge electric vehicles at a good rate. It strikes me as a good example that a co-operative approach could help that large section of the community gain access to EVs, which would be socially useful and progressive for them, society and the environment. That is innovation in the interest of the entire community.

[Josh Newbury]

My hon. Friend has given us a prime example of how thinking about problems differently and more collaboratively is rooted at the heart of co-operatives. The roll-out of EVs to people who do not have a driveway and perhaps do not have ready access to charging infrastructure is one of the many challenges that the Government are facing in the move towards net zero. It is a prime example of how we can use co-operative principles to tackle a problem in a different way that helps the community to benefit.

Similarly, I want to make sure that our local working men’s clubs are given their due, such as those in Cannock, Rugeley, Hednesford, Chadsmoor and my home village of Norton Canes, where they remain vital community hubs. Those clubs embody co-op principles, offering social support, fostering local connections and supporting grassroots initiatives. They are living examples of how member-driven organisations can enrich community life.

As a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, I have seen how co-ops can empower small producers to speak with a louder voice, and to secure value and recognition for their labour. Probably the best known is Arla, owned by more than 3,000 dairy farmers and supplying a quarter of the nation’s milk, but there are many more. However, I still look longingly at many of our European neighbours and even the USA, which my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) mentioned, where co-ops are far more present in the agricultural economy. It is no coincidence that they do not have much of the abject unfairness in their food supply chains that we see in Britain. I hope that is being considered by the Treasury and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, as I believe it could unlock a huge amount of growth in rural communities that have been overlooked for far too long.

I am proud of this Government’s commitment to doubling our co-operative sector because, as my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton said so powerfully, it is clear that co-ops have long been undervalued and underappreciated as part of our economy. They cradle immense potential not just to transform our businesses but to draw together our communities at a time when many have never felt further apart.

Ask an everyday passer-by what co-ops contribute to our communities, and they might answer something along the lines of: “Somewhere to buy a meal deal.” It is an irony that highlights the sector’s need for Government support in making the UK economy one in which mutuals, co-ops and community-owned businesses can thrive and play a more prominent role in national life.

I will set out three brief priorities for the Government. First, let us unlock finance by opening up the British Business Bank’s programmes to co-ops and making sure that transitional help is available so that small and medium-sized enterprises can mutualise. Reaching our manifesto commitment cannot just be about new co-ops being created; if we support the mutualisation of existing businesses, we can safeguard them and put them in the hands of the very people they serve.

Secondly, we need to shake up legislation and regulations so that co-ops are unleashed to start up, scale up and diversify. That is not asking for special treatment; all it would do is bring us into line with international best practice. That is particularly important for new and innovative co-operative models in emerging sectors.

Thirdly and finally, let us offer tailored support, at a regional level, on the nitty-gritty of start-up, conversion, governance and, of course, procurement laws, so that co-ops can compete for public contracts on the scale at which they operate. However, we must also think more broadly. There are sectors crying out for a co-operative approach, and the Government clearly have a role to play in supporting that. In social care, where quality, continuity and local accountability are critical, co-op models offer a way to put care workers and care users at the heart of the system.

In some areas of the special educational needs and disabilities sector, we see eye-watering profiteering at the expense of family and council budgets alike. A co-operative approach could provide transparency, trust and better outcomes by aligning support with the needs of families, not investors.

In housing, as we have heard, many people live in communities that are defined by shared interests and challenges, so giving tenants a real say through co-op principles could help to improve housing standards, tenant engagement and community cohesion.

Finally, looking ahead, local government reorganisation presents us with both a risk and an opportunity. As new councils are created, assets could be shared. Many of those assets are central to the identity of our communities, such as libraries, community centres and green spaces. Rather than lose them to speculative buyers or closure, the Government’s commitment to a true community right to buy, so brilliantly championed by my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton, could make sure they stay in the hands of the community.

In conclusion, if we want to supercharge growth in the co-op sector, we must match its potential with political will. If we do that, we will grow not just a sector but an economy in which power is shared in Cannock Chase and every corner of the UK.