NHS: Winter Preparedness

Stuart Anderson Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

This is the futility of the BMA’s position. The steps that we were proposing to take—both increasing the number of specialty places and bringing forward emergency legislation to deal with UK prioritisation—would have reduced the competition ratio from around 4:1 today to less than 2:1. That would have kicked in during the current round. We would have been able to bring forward emergency legislation and a new application round in the spring. The BMA has rejected that approach, and we will not proceed on that basis.

It is for the BMA to explain what its dispute is all about. We were told that it was all about jobs. What it seems to be about in substance is that the BMA wants a 26% pay rise, in addition to a 28.9% pay rise. I think the BMA is missing a degree of perspective about not just the state of the public finances but the pressures on other parts of the NHS and the public sector. The Government are committed to improving, consistently and year on year, the pay, terms and conditions of staff, and, crucially, the conditions in which patients are seen and treated. We cannot fix it all at once.

In fact, when this and previous Governments have floated the idea of raising extra money, BMA committees have sometimes been among the first to complain about the prospect of higher taxes, including on pensions, and other issues. It seems that their view is that everybody else should pay higher taxes for their higher salaries, and no one else matters. For me, those Agenda for Change staff who have been left behind are the first priority.

[Stuart Anderson (South Shropshire) (Con)]

Everybody knows that South Shropshire is the most beautiful rural constituency, but that rurality brings remoteness, which brings challenges with an ageing population, and with additional strikes there is concern about whether adequate healthcare will be provided this winter. Will the Secretary of State set out how that will be done, so that residents of South Shropshire will not go without?

[Wes Streeting]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to raise the interests not just of our cities and towns but of rural communities. I was proud of the emphasis that we placed on rural services and coastal communities in our 10-year plan for health, and we take that into account with our urgent and emergency care plan. I have been encouraged by the way that some of our ambulance services that are dealing with remote and rural constituencies are responding this year compared with last year, but there is still much more for us to do, particularly across the midlands. We want consistent year-on-year improvement so that whoever someone is and wherever they live, the NHS is always there when they need it.