Olly Glover
Main Page: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)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
Olly Glover (Didcot and Wantage) (LD)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I follow other hon. Members in congratulating the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley) on bringing this vital topic to the House and sharing his insight from his many decades of medical practice as well as the tribute that he paid to his father’s—he clearly comes from a family of strong medical pedigree. He talked about the potential for a boost of more than £109 billion for the economy. He also spoke about the wheels starting to come off, but I say to him that there is no sign of that happening in his case: I have heard him make valuable contributions using his medical experience in many debates in the House.
This topic is important. Analysis from the Office for National Statistics conducted during 2019 and 2020 highlighted that almost half of the UK population reported having a long-standing health problem, with the four most common chronic conditions in the UK for men and women being allergy, high blood pressure, low back disorder and depression. The Health Foundation has found that more than 9 million people in England are projected to be living with a major illness by 2040—an increase of 2.5 million compared with 2019. A third of those surveyed in 2024 did not feel supported to manage their long-term health condition.
Hon. Members have brought out some important themes in the debate. They have talked about the mental health and economic impact, and the importance of social, community and volunteer care, as well as care in hospitals and health facilities. They have talked about the importance of integrating care and ensuring that appointments are co-ordinated to avoid people being pushed from pillar to post in our excellent but sometimes complicated national health service. They have also all highlighted the critical importance of prevention, screening and early diagnosis and detection, as well as the need to reduce waiting times to increase survival chances. A number of hon. Members also highlighted concerns about the benefit system and personal independence payments, and I am sure we all very much look forward to hearing from the Minister on that point.
The hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) shared some very powerful stories from his time as an optometrist, including the impact of sight loss on people’s physical and mental health. He highlighted the potential to save between £8 billion and £13 billion by tackling mental health and wellbeing impacts.
The hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume) spoke powerfully about endometriosis—I have a friend called Emma who is also dealing with that condition—and highlighted that two thirds of people expect to live with long-term conditions. My hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde) spoke powerfully about his constituent Andy, who has a benign tumour and functional neurological disorder. My hon. Friend laid out how the NHS and the care system have not always been able to meet Andy’s needs locally, despite their good intentions. The hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy) spoke emotionally and powerfully about how his father’s stroke was detected as a result of a car crash, which paradoxically saved his life, and he also told us how strokes are the fourth most common cause of death and a common cause of disability.
The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) talked about the importance of access to benefits. I pay tribute to his ox-like heart. He mentioned a number of long-term conditions, including type 2 diabetes, COPD, cystic fibrosis and cancer. The hon. Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones) talked about her physiotherapy background. It is so good to have so many Members who bring their past health and medical background to this House. She highlighted that one in six people are affected by arthritis and she quite rightly reminded us that long-term conditions are experienced not only by older people but by people of all ages.
My constituent, Terry, has a range of long-term health issues, some spanning more than 20 years. There is little to no co-ordination of his care. He has had doctors from multiple hospitals and specialist centres working on medical care, with no one named person in charge and in control. Therefore, there is sometimes difficulty resolving conflicting medical priorities.
This week is national Diabetes Week. Retinopathy is a serious diabetic complication that can cause blindness, and until recently it was the leading cause of blindness in the working population. Regular eye screening is key to detect this condition. My constituent, Carolyn, has written to me to express how difficult it is to access this essential service in Oxfordshire. A new service has been contracted by NHS England—for as long as it is here—to do that work with far fewer centres. Making screening more difficult to access will meant that there will be people who find it too difficult to access that important service.
My constituent, Jess, has been struggling with endometriosis for 14 years because of misdiagnosis. As a result, her condition has progressed and worsened, which could have been avoided with better informed doctors and greater awareness. In the UK, diagnosis for the condition takes an average of nearly nine years, and one in six women who have endometriosis have to leave the workplace because of it.
As Members have said, the personal independence payment scoring system is not fit for purpose. My constituent, Sally, has progressive MS. She scored 12 points and was rejected, but someone with a different disability scored eight points and was approved. That is because of the proposed “four points in one activity” rule, which can punish people with complex whole-body conditions just because their needs are spread across multiple areas. My constituent was unable to work for a number of months, but did not qualify for PIP. That highlights the importance of making sure that our disability benefits system is fit for purpose. It must recognise real human needs and not just view people as numbers in a system.
The UK should be one of the healthiest countries in the world with our long history of grassroots sports, high-quality food production and world-leading medical research, but under the previous Government, the UK only became sicker, and it now lags far behind its international peers. That is why the Liberal Democrats want the new Government to take urgent action to support people to live healthier lives. They should start by reversing Conservative cuts to public health funding and investing in community services, so that everyone can see a GP within seven days.
We must also end the crisis in social care, which is a disaster for people with long-term conditions and for our NHS. I repeat our call for the current review into social care to be concluded this year, not in three years. We have had many reviews into social care. We do not need further reviews; we need action. We are pressing for better social care for disabled people, including free personal care and more support for family carers, such as through more respite breaks and paid carer’s leave. We would also give everyone a new right to flexible working, and every disabled person the right to work from home if they want to unless there are significant business reasons why that is not possible.
We would make it easier for people with long-term conditions and disabled people to access public life—including the world of work—by, for example, adopting new accessibility standards for public spaces, improving the legislative framework for blue badges and incorporating the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities into UK law. There is much work to be done to raise employers’ awareness of the Access to Work scheme, simplifying and speeding up the application process, introducing adjustment passports to record the adjustments, modifications and equipment that a disabled person has received and ensuring that Access to Work support and equipment stays with the person if they change jobs.
As I mentioned, social care is critical to ensuring that people with long-term health conditions are properly cared for, recognising that hundreds of thousands of people are stranded in hospital beds because they are waiting for capacity in the care system. To that end, this is Carers Week, and the Liberal Democrats are campaigning to empower care users and to support care workers and the millions of unpaid carers looking after loved ones, some of whom we have heard about this afternoon. We would create a social care workforce plan, establish a royal college of care workers to improve recognition and career progression, and introduce a higher minimum wage for carers.
Boosting public health and helping people to recover from mental ill health will be critical to achieving progress, as will tackling chronic fatigue and ME. A number of hon. Members highlighted the importance of the better use of data and technology to understand health trends and improve care. I very much look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say on those topics and others covered by hon. Members.