NHS: Long-term Strategy

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Commons Chamber

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

We are in the middle of the greatest NHS crisis for a generation. Hospital beds are full, hospital corridors are full, patients are waiting hours, even days, in ambulances outside A&E, GP and the dentist appointments are almost impossible to get, medicines are running out, waiting lists continue to grow, and doctors, nurses and care staff are exhausted. We all know this, and I think we also know where the blame lies. It lies at the door of the Government, not only for their inaction over the last few weeks and months, but for the years of mismanagement that have left the NHS under-resourced, underfunded and understaffed.

With the greatest of respect to Conservative Members, people in Batley and Spen and elsewhere are not interested in international comparisons; they are interested in solutions. After 13 years in power, the Conservatives have to take responsibility for the current crisis in the national health service. There is quite simply nowhere for them to hide, and I think they know it.

Every hon. Member has stories of constituents who have faced an absolute nightmare in recent weeks and months. I would be extremely surprised if Conservative Members have not received the same kinds of emails that every Labour Member receives every day about the current state of the NHS. I have a list of constituents, friends and family members who have not received the care they deserve due to the huge pressures within the system.

Of course we understand the impact of the pandemic, but the NHS would be in a far better position to cope with the demand it now faces if there had not been a lost decade, and more, of underfunding and staff shortages. The public and our incredible, tireless NHS staff are now paying the devastating price for this Government’s failings.

Last week I visited Cleckheaton group practice, a GP surgery in my constituency. I spoke at length with the practice manager about the pressures it is facing, its struggle to recruit and retain staff, the dramatic increase in case load, the increasing level of abuse and the real pain of not being resourced to provide the service that the practice wants to provide.

When patients ring for an appointment, receptionists desperately want to book them in to see a GP. They understand patients’ desperation, but the capacity is simply not there. The practice received 690 phone calls in just two hours. Staff are doing their very best, but they are struggling on a professional level and a human level. We often talk about the NHS as an organisation, as a thing, but we must never forget that it is full of real people who feel the daily impact of this crisis and longer-term Government mismanagement. The impact on their physical and mental health must not be ignored.

Where is the serious work needed to prevent the next crisis or to introduce longer-term preventative health measures to free up capacity in the years and decades to come? The Government have a role to play, but this type of forward thinking, solving problems before they arise, has been sorely lacking for the last 13 years. I am enormously reassured that, as a Government in waiting, we in the Labour party have begun that work, setting out the long-term plans and fixes our country needs. The next Labour Government will make the decisions needed to ensure that our country is fit for the next generation.

However, in the short term, I plead with the Government to treat the NHS crisis with the seriousness and leadership it needs, and to work collaboratively with healthcare staff and the unions. We all rely on the NHS being there in our time of need, and I know that I speak for many constituents who are deeply concerned that, if they become ill in the next few weeks, an ambulance will not be there for them, the hospital bed they need will not be free and the doctors and nurses will not be there to care for them. The Government are failing in their primary duty to keep us safe, and what we are seeing under their watch is simply not good enough. Our constituents deserve better, our NHS deserves better, and Britain needs and deserves better.

NHS Staffing Levels

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Westminster Hall

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

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral West (Margaret Greenwood) for this important debate on a subject that is close to my heart. I have many friends and family who work in the NHS and I speak to them regularly about the severe pressures they are under. I doubt there is a single Member of Parliament whose inbox is not full of casework, both from patients whose treatment has been delayed because of staff shortages and from overstretched NHS workers who are frustrated that, with the best will in the world, they simply cannot meet the demands they face each and every day.

I want to mention a couple of the emails I have received in recent weeks. Eamon works in the NHS and told me:

“After over 10 years of underfunding, I see my colleagues and staff within the hospitals I visit every day look more and more dejected, run down, insulted and demoralised. Where once was pride, a smile, laughter and camaraderie, there is now worry, depression and a feeling of hopelessness.”

Tracy expressed the feelings of many long-serving health workers when she told me:

“Some of us cannot cope on the wages we earn and are considering leaving the NHS. We cannot afford to lose any more staff—we are struggling to staff wards as it is. I work six days a week to get a decent wage. I’m 60 years old and I have worked all my life. This can’t be right.”

Eamon and Tracy are hard-working professionals, dedicated to helping the patients in their care. That people like them should be so worn down and unhappy at work that they are considering leaving should be a wake-up call to the Government. Yet all we hear from the Prime Minister down is that decent wages for nurses and other healthcare workers are unaffordable. Is it any wonder that people look elsewhere in the economy and see employers doing what the Government should be doing in the NHS? That is, offering higher wages and better working conditions to help recruit and retain the staff they need.

In my constituency of Batley and Spen, Amazon is seeking to build a huge new warehouse development. I am opposing the plan for a number of reasons, not least the damage it would do to the health and wellbeing of local residents and the impact on the already-overloaded transport network. However, I also have serious reservations about the number and type of jobs such a development would create and I worry that our exhausted NHS workforce may be tempted by such developments, whatever the reality. We cannot afford for our nurses, porters, drivers and other workers who keep the NHS going to be lured away by the promise of higher wages in other sectors. We need them.

The impact of staff shortages has already led to vital services in my constituency being significantly reduced, leaving patients having to travel long distances to access care that, until recently, was available in their own communities. Such local care is really important. To take just one example, the Bronte Birth Centre was a lifeline for expectant mums, but it was forced to close—hopefully, temporarily. However, some fear it could become permanent, because the centre simply cannot get the maternity staff it needs. A recent advert for midwives did not lead to a single application.

NHS management is doing its best, looking to support recent graduates, attract back retired staff and recruit internationally. However, it is clear that the fundamental problem remains the same across the health service: low morale, wages that fail to keep up with prices and working conditions that are getting progressively worse, month after month and year after year. We remain incredibly proud of the NHS, especially on this side of the House, but I accept in other parties too. After 12 years of under-investment, it is now stretched to breaking point. Unless we take urgent action to strengthen the workforce, restore the pride that NHS staff have in their ability to do their jobs and properly reward them for their work, we are putting the future of our NHS at serious risk. I hope we can all agree that that is something we must avoid at all costs.

Baby Loss and Safe Staffing in Maternity Care

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Tuesday 25th October 2022 Westminster Hall

[Jill Mortimer]

You have done. Yes, that loss never goes away. I still feel guilty, because it was so early; I did not go through what people such as my hon. Friend have gone through.

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

I thank the hon. Lady for sharing her deeply personal and emotional story. I want to place on the record my thanks to Alex Walmsley in my constituency, who recently won a BBC Radio Leeds “Make a Difference” award for founding Sands United West Yorkshire, a football team that provides peer support for men affected by baby loss. We often tend to focus on the women, but it is really important that we talk about the fathers who have suffered that loss as well. Does the hon. Lady agree that keeping open local maternity units, such as the Brontë birth centre in my constituency at Dewsbury and District Hospital, is essential to maintaining safe and quick access to maternity services for our communities?

Oral Answers to Questions

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

My hon. Friend will be aware that, through this Government’s funding, we have opened five new medical schools and, from memory, 1,500 additional undergraduate places. That is thanks to the work of the former Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Jeremy Hunt), who championed this specific initiative to address workforce pressure.

More widely, I am always happy to meet my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr Walker) to discuss issues in Worcester.

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

Does the Secretary of State agree that one way we can take some of the pressure off overstretched GP services is to ensure that pharmacists can continue to play their vital role in looking after the health and wellbeing of patients? Pharmacies across the country are closing because of financial pressures, so will he urgently look into extra support for them to recruit and retain staff?

[Steve Barclay]

The hon. Lady raises a valid and important point about getting the right service to patients, which can often best be delivered by a pharmacist. That is why, as I signalled earlier, we need better use of tech to support patients in understanding where they can best access the advice they need.

Menopause

Kim Leadbeater Excerpts

Thursday 9th June 2022 Westminster Hall

[Carolyn Harris (Swansea East) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the menopause.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Robertson. It has been four years since I first spoke in a debate in this place on the menopause. Each year that followed, I duly put my name down to speak in the annual debate on or around World Menopause Day, but it was not enough. While it might have gone some way towards breaking down barriers and lifting the taboo on this great unspoken issue, speaking about the menopause was not doing anything for the millions of women across the country who were suffering the symptoms and in desperate need of help. This issue was something I had a burning desire to champion as I learned more and more about how support and services are failing women across the country, and my opportunity came when I was successful in the private Member’s ballot last year.

The twenty-ninth of October 2021 felt like a momentous day. As we gathered in Parliament Square, there were cheers of joy and tears of relief; the Minister herself was there, so she will know what I mean when I say that you could feel the utter delight in the atmosphere as women celebrated what they perceived as a victory. It is no exaggeration to say that, since that day, I have been bombarded with messages asking when the annual prescription charge for hormone replacement therapy in England will be introduced. We now know—I am sure the Minister will explain the technical reasons for this—that the answer is April 2023: 18 months after the commitment was made, 18 months after the cheers and the tears, and 18 months after that delightful taste of victory, which is so rapidly turning sour.

Naturally, I am frustrated. I have been angry, and I have been very vocal. All the explanations for how and why this has happened mean nothing. They do not help the women who are struggling through a cost of living crisis and can barely afford food and heating, let alone “luxuries” like their medication.

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

As a woman of a certain age, I put on record my personal thanks to my hon. Friend for her tireless campaigning on this important issue and thank her on behalf of many of my family and friends who have repeatedly shared with me their praise and admiration for her work. Does she agree that the menopause is not a minor condition, but can severely impact every part of a woman’s life, and that the only way we can properly support menopausal women is by taking a holistic approach, looking at everything from employment to medicines and mental and physical health, and of course—as my hon. Friend is rightly doing—by keeping this important issue firmly on the agenda?

[Carolyn Harris]

I totally agree with my hon. Friend. As she knows, my passion for this subject means that I will champion every one of the issues she has brought to my attention.

Women such as Brioni say:

“We live in deprived communities where HRT is considered a luxury item. The women I support work part time for minimum wage and on temporary contracts. We simply can’t afford the resources, products, private consultations that other women from more privileged backgrounds can.”

I can testify to the truth of that. I discovered quite early on that my own menopause was menopause, not depression, and when I spoke publicly about it, my friends said to me, “You’re posh having a menopause, Carolyn”—posh, because all the symptoms they were experiencing were things they just put up with and shut up with. I put it under the label of menopause, and the fact that I was able to have HRT—because I went private—made me posh. That was the only time in my life I have ever been called posh.

Brioni is from Doncaster, but what she says is relevant in working-class communities right across the country. Women will always put the needs of their families first, and as long as they have to choose between feeding their kids and paying for their prescriptions, we know where they are going to put their money. To all the Brionis out there struggling, I send my personal apologies that their hopes were prematurely raised. It is not what I expected or wanted, and it is certainly not what I am prepared to accept.

Outside this place, the menopause is a priority, and credit for that must go to all those who are campaigning for change at a grassroots level. Thanks to the willingness of so many of them to work together for the greater good, we now have the menopause mandate in place. We are joining women’s voices into a chorus whose mantra is menopause, menopause, menopause, amplifying the individual voices of grassroots campaigners so that all those individuals and their cases, with all their passions, are brought together in one collective.

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.