Health and Care Bill

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Consideration of Lords amendments
Monday 25th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

I reassure my hon. Friend that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made it clear that he wishes the whole health and care workforce landscape to be considered by Health Education England.

The growth in our workforce comes on the back of our record investment in the NHS, which is helping to deliver our manifesto commitments, as I said to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), including our commitment to 50,000 more nurses by the end of the Parliament. The spending review settlement will also underpin funding for the biggest ever intake of undergraduate medical students and nurses.

Although I might not be able to say anything sufficient to fully convince my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Jeremy Hunt), I put on record my gratitude to him not only for the insight, expertise and knowledge he has brought to our debates on this issue but for the typical courtesy he has displayed throughout our interactions and conversations. I do not know what he will say in a moment, but I have tried to pre-empt him. I hope that he may be tempted to stick with it.

I hope that the House will recognise that the Government are already doing substantial work to improve workforce planning, and that placing a requirement such as Lords amendment 29B on the statute book is therefore unnecessary.

[Kim Leadbeater (Batley and Spen) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Edward Argar]

Very briefly, but I am sensitive to Madam Deputy Speaker’s instruction to be brief.

[Kim Leadbeater]

I thank the Minister for giving way. More than 100 organisations, including the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association, have expressed their support for Lords amendment 29B. Does he agree that the only way to ensure that we recruit and retain the talented staff that our NHS and social care sector desperately need is through a long-term workforce plan in consultation with the experts in the field, such as health and care employers, unions and integrated care boards?

[Edward Argar]

That is exactly what we are doing through the work commissioned by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, which is why Lords amendment 29B is unnecessary.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Tuesday 19th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I would be very pleased to meet my right hon. Friend to discuss that further. I am sure he will welcome the publication of the upcoming health disparities White Paper.

[Kim Leadbeater (Batley and Spen) (Lab)]

In a recent survey by Carers UK, almost half of unpaid carers said that they are currently unable to manage their monthly energy bills and expenses, and that any further increases would negatively affect their own physical and mental health, or that of the person they care for. What steps are being taken, along with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to support those hard-working exhausted unpaid carers with the cost of living?

Oral Answers to Questions

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

It is an important question on the workforce. The hon. Gentleman will know that over the last two years we have removed the cap on medical places and we have the highest number of doctors and dentists in training ever. It is right to think about what more we can do, however, and we are having active discussions with the Secretary of State for Education to see what can be done.

[Kim Leadbeater (Batley and Spen) (Lab)]

On the issue of children’s mental health, does the Minister agree that children with ADHD and autism have found the last two years even more stressful than usual? A cross-departmental approach is long overdue to ensure that their needs are adequately met.

[The Minister for Care and Mental Health (Gillian Keegan)]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right, which is why we are working cross-departmentally to bring forward a mental health strategy. It is also why we have put in place mental health recovery funding specifically for the recovery from the pandemic, which has had a terrible effect on children’s mental health.

Children’s Mental Health

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Tuesday 8th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kim Leadbeater (Batley and Spen) (Lab)]

On 11 January 2016, the then Prime Minister David Cameron pledged a revolution in mental health treatment. At that time, I was working as a lecturer at Bradford College, and would regularly find myself supporting students who were struggling with anxiety, depression and, in some of the worst cases, attempts at taking their own lives. I knew then that services for children and young people who were struggling with their mental health were failing to meet their needs. Sadly, years later, and now working as a Member of Parliament, reading the correspondence in my inbox and going into schools on a weekly basis, I am afraid I cannot see any evidence of any such revolution when it comes to children’s mental health.

It would be remiss not to mention the impact of covid-19 on mental health over the last two years, but—as the excellent mental health charity Young Minds said in November last year— the crisis in young people’s mental health predates the pandemic. Indeed, in 2017, suicide was the most common cause of death for both boys and girls aged between five and 19. Research from University College London found that in 2018-19 almost a quarter of 17-year-olds had self-harmed in the previous year. Young Minds also highlights the clear inequalities when it comes to children and young people’s mental health, with high rates of mental health problems among young women, LGBTQ+ young people, young people with autism and young carers, alongside clear links between mental health and experiencing racism and discrimination, and mental health and financial insecurity. We clearly have a problem.

While I welcome the acknowledgement this week from the Children’s Commissioner for England that progress has been made to reduce the gap between the number of children with an emerging mental health need and the support available, this is no revolution. She also discussed waiting times and the fact that we now have one in six children with a probable mental health disorder. People are still waiting weeks and weeks for treatment to begin. Under this Government, we have seen a 77% rise in the number of children needing specialist treatment for a severe mental health crisis, and almost 117,000 children were turned away from mental health services last year despite being referred by a professional.

Despite warnings from teachers of an increase in emotional and mental health issues in pupils since the pandemic, the Government continue to give the impression that children and young people are an afterthought in their plans. I wholeheartedly welcome the opportunity to have this important debate today, and I sincerely hope that Ministers will use it to address the unacceptable crisis facing far too many young people and families across our country. We need a revolution in mental health, prevention, early intervention and treatment, and it needs to start today.

GP Appointment Availability

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Tuesday 26th October 2021 Westminster Hall

[Joy Morrissey]

I recall the Member speaking on this topic previously. I commented only because of my personal experience. The change is well intended, and I understand where it is coming from, but for a disabled person, and for someone who cannot advocate for their own care needs, having a care plan in place before leaving hospital helps with accountability and the structure of the care. From my own personal experience, as someone who has taken care of a very disabled relative who cannot advocate for herself, I can only say that having this agreed before she came out of hospital made it easier for our family to co-ordinate the care. It is difficult to know which funding pathway is linked to what care once someone leaves hospital; there is a statutory responsibility, but then there is the question of who picks up the care once that period out of hospital has finished. For someone who is disabled, has had a stroke or requires long-term rehabilitation, that is a very sticky issue because whichever organisation within the health structure picks up the statutory duty picks up a huge cost. I think it is a very nuanced issue and we need another debate on it to flesh out all the different challenges. However, I take on board the comments made by the hon. Member for Wirral West and recall supporting what she said when she spoke several months ago.

I understand that these are unprecedented times, and there are great challenges for everyone across the health sector. This is not to criticise anyone; it is just about how we can positively move forward into the new covid era in which we find ourselves, and into the winter months when there are more challenges. It is about how we can work together to find solutions, particularly for the vulnerable, the disabled and those who cannot advocate for their own care needs. I am very grateful that we have been given time to debate this topic.

[Kim Leadbeater (Batley and Spen) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Lady for securing this important debate today. Like her, I have had communication from a number of constituents who are concerned about the lack of face-to-face appointments. It definitely is an issue. We have to be careful that we do not have a knee-jerk reaction. I also think there are benefits to a hybrid approach; I have a chronic health condition, but I would actually rather have a telephone conversation. The other important point is that a survey by the British Medical Association in August found that half of GPs had faced verbal abuse in the previous month alone, and most GPs had witnessed abuse directed at, in particular, reception staff. This is certainly borne out by the conversations I have had at surgeries in my constituency in Batley and Birkenshaw. Does the hon. Lady agree that this is extremely concerning and totally unacceptable, and that we must call out abuse directed at those in public service?

[Joy Morrissey]

I thank the hon. Lady for her comment. In my constituency we have GPs who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic and have done so much to roll out the vaccine—I commend them for everything they have done in such an incredible way. This is not to disparage the wonderful work of the majority of GPs and GP’s surgeries. I am looking for the correct terminology. There are certain GP’s surgeries that have struggled to even respond to constituents with phone calls. Many would be satisfied with just a phone call, but they cannot even reach their GP to schedule a phone call appointment.