Oral Answers to Questions

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

This Government have invested an extra £26 billion in the NHS, delivered 5 million more appointments in our first year and cut waiting lists by more than 200,000. We are also tackling the NHS postcode lottery. Patients should not have to wait longer for worse care because of where they live. Our new NHS league tables shine a light on the poorest performers so they receive the extra support and accountability needed to turn them around. The best leaders are being sent into the most challenged trusts to turn them around, failing managers will have their pay docked and persistent failure will lead to restrictions on boards, as we saw in Leeds this week. We will not tolerate failure.

[Shaun Davies]

In Telford and wider Shropshire, we know that the NHS has an absolute mountain to climb after years of underperformance. We have begun that journey with falling waiting times, increased Government investment and plans for Telford’s first ever cancer treatment unit. Will the Secretary of State ensure that trusts that show signs of improvement are backed to catch up with the rest and continue their improvements, particularly with investment in technology, research and infrastructure?

[Wes Streeting]

Absolutely. My hon. Friend deserves real credit for championing Telford and Shropshire and helping to get the trust the investment it needs. He is right that local services have not been good enough for a number of years. We will not turn a blind eye to that failure; we will do something about it. There is a long way to go, but we have already delivered an extra 94,000 appointments and cut waiting lists by over 14,000 at his local trust since the general election—so a lot done, but lots more to do.

[Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East) (Con)]

I see the Health Secretary is having a bust-up with the Chancellor over who pays his £1.3 billion redundancy bill for breaking up NHS England. Will he guarantee that, once he has resolved his differences with the Chancellor, not a single penny will be taken from delivering frontline health and social care services or from underperforming NHS trusts to pay for making staff redundant?

[Wes Streeting]

The hon. Gentleman should not believe everything he reads in the newspapers. I make no apology for trying to cut unnecessary bureaucracy in large national organisations to redeploy savings to frontline services. His Government really should have taken a leaf out of our book.

[Dame Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Secretary of State need look no further than Homerton university hospital in Hackney for good performance: it has managed to increase productivity by over 11%. What is he doing to support great leaders who deliver great progress and to make sure that they have the funding they need to continue with that?

[Wes Streeting]

I was delighted to meet my hon. Friend only recently to hear about the really impressive productivity gains being made at her local trust. I am keen to learn more. We need to incentivise and reward leaders for that kind of outstanding performance and we also need to get some of that best practice to some of our poorest performing trusts.

[Freddie van Mierlo (Henley and Thame) (LD)]

Oxford university hospitals trust is one of just three trusts that do not provide givinostat for Duchenne through the early access programme. Last week, I attended a roundtable at which one of my constituents, Alex, advocated on behalf of his son, Ben, who is not getting the treatment. We discussed lessons learned from the early access programme. Will the Secretary of State meet me, Duchenne UK and the all-party parliamentary group on access to medicines and medical devices so that we can share those lessons with him?

[Wes Streeting]

I have had the privilege of meeting some of the campaigners, and particularly the young people affected by that cruel condition, and I understand the hon. Gentleman’s frustrations. I know that the medication is being put through the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence process, and I hope that that will deliver a positive outcome. I would be delighted to keep him apprised of progress.

[Mr Speaker]

Can I just suggest to Members that their supplementary question should relate to the tabled question? That would be helpful. I call the shadow Minister.

[Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)]

With reports of over £1 billion in costs for integrated care board redundancies and the chief executive officer of NHS England warning that services could have to move to plan B, could the Secretary of State set out what plan B is?

[Wes Streeting]

We are absolutely committed to delivering the transformation that we have outlined, and we are working with ICB leaders and NHS leaders to do that in a timely way. Those savings will deliver better value for money and enable us to redeploy resources to the frontline where they belong.

[Dr Evans]

I thank the Secretary of State for his answer, but waiting lists have risen for three successive months now, doctors are on strike, GPs are in formal dispute with the Government, and the ICBs are cutting 50% of their staff and do not have £1 billion to pay for it, all while the NHS 10-year plan has been published but with no delivery chapter. When will the Secretary of State come to the House with the delivery plan for the NHS 10-year plan?

[Wes Streeting]

Not only have the Conservatives failed to get in the news, but they have clearly not been reading it either. There have been no doctors strikes in the NHS since before the summer, and we have sat down with resident doctors and their new leadership to try to avert future strike action. The hon. Gentleman is right to point out that the action taken by the previous committee—unnecessary and irresponsible as it was—has impacted on waiting lists in the last few months, as have higher levels of demand than anticipated. I say that by way of explanation, by the way, not by way of excuse. I am determined to make sure that we hit our target, as outlined in the Government’s plan for change, and I think he will find that in the coming months we will be back on track and well on course to achieving something that the Conservatives failed to do when they had the chance.

[Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)]

3. What steps his Department is taking to improve maternity and neonatal care.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

I am deeply concerned by the state of maternity care that we inherited in the NHS. That is why I have asked Baroness Amos to chair an independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services. Families deserve truth and justice, there must be accountability for failings, and services must improve. I am committing to doing whatever it takes to provide patients and babies with safe, comfortable and dignified care.

I should also inform the House that this week I have announced an inquiry into failings at the Leeds teaching hospital trust. I am working with the families affected to agree on a chair and terms of reference, and I will keep the House updated on next steps.

[Samantha Niblett]

Pregnancy can be a worrying time for any expectant parent, and knowing they can access their GP to see a person face to face is hugely important. That was denied to my constituent, Hayley Johnson, who sadly went on to lose her baby, Evelyn, when she was delivered in an emergency at 26 weeks and six days due to a huge misdiagnosis given over the phone. With regard to maternity support specifically, what is the Minister doing to ensure that excellent maternity care is delivered in local communities so that that never happens to another family, and that when the very worst does happen and parents are suffering the loss of a baby, the support also extends to bereavement counselling?

[Wes Streeting]

I thank my hon. Friend for the work she is doing to campaign for better support in this space and for raising these tragic cases, not just today but in her powerful contribution to last week’s debate. She is right to say that GPs are critical for supporting women during pregnancy, providing compassionate physical and mental health care and signposting relevant services, which is why continuity is important. I am happy to report to her that, in terms of mental health and bereavement support, a record number of women accessed a specialist community perinatal mental health service or maternal mental health service in the 12 months to July 2025, but clearly there is much more to do. We have announced a £36.5 million package for bespoke perinatal mental health and parent infant relationship support as part of the continuation of the family hubs and Start for Life programme, but as we heard in last week’s debate, although a lot has been done, there is so much more to do.

[Mr Joshua Reynolds (Maidenhead) (LD)]

Safe maternity care depends on adequate staffing, and we on these Benches have been calling for better recruitment and retention of staff in women’s health services for a long time now. Can the Secretary of State outline what specific measures the Government are taking to address the shortage of midwives and specialist neonatal nurses across England?

[Wes Streeting]

We need to make sure that there is better staffing and that we have the right people in the right place. I should just caution the House, though, because in recent years there has been an increase in staffing but not a corresponding increase in the quality of care, so we have to make sure we are looking at this issue in a nuanced way. It is about having the right staff in the right place at the right time to deliver safe maternity and perinatal services, and that is exactly what we will do.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)]

Our maternity wards are in a state of crisis, with death and injury rising at an alarming rate. Sadly, this issue is not confined to Shropshire, and there has been a steady drumbeat of maternity scandals, with review after review finding consistent failings across the NHS. Can the Secretary of State explain to me and the many mothers I have met who have faced tragedy and unacceptable trauma why the Government are cutting national service development funding—ringfenced funding to improve maternity care—by more than 95% and why the immediate and essential actions from the Ockenden review into the failings at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust, which were to be implemented nationwide, are still not in place more than three years later?

[Wes Streeting]

We really are not; what we have done is devolve funding and responsibility to local level, which we think is the right thing to do. If I may say so, it is quite irresponsible to suggest that maternity funding and funding for services has been cut in the way that the hon. Lady describes. I think it causes unnecessary concern. We are taking into account the recommendations made by Donna Ockenden, as well as a wide range of other reviews and inquiries, as part of Baroness Amos’s rapid investigation, because I, like the hon. Member, want to see rapid improvement in maternity services across the country.

[Neil Duncan-Jordan (Poole) (Ind)]

4. Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing ringfenced NHS funding for children’s hospices to £30 million by 2030.

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[Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)]

I am concerned that the disruption caused by an uncosted, unplanned simultaneous reorganisation of NHS England and the ICBs is affecting patient care. Before the summer, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended that the RSV vaccine should be given to those over 80 and those in adult care homes. In July, I asked the Secretary of State to confirm that this vaccine will be available in time for the winter season, and he said,

“I can certainly reassure the shadow Minister on this.”—[Official Report, 22 July 2025; Vol. 771, c. 677.]

The winter vaccine programme started three weeks ago. Why has he not delivered on his promise?

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

We have.

[Karin Smyth]

As my right hon. Friend has just said, we have delivered on that commitment. The hon. Member talks about the reorganisation being a distraction. If her party had focused taxpayers’ money on patient services rather than ballooning bureaucracy, with costs increasing both among providers and through ICBs, we would not have inherited the mess that we did, and would be able to roll out programmes more effectively. We have committed to doing that.

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[Michelle Welsh (Sherwood Forest) (Lab)]

13. What steps his Department is taking to improve patient access to GPs.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

We strengthened the NHS front door with £1.2 billion for general practice, the biggest cash increase in over a decade. We promised to recruit an extra 1,000 GPs in our first year—we recruited 2,000. Patients are now able to request appointments online, which is a huge step towards delivering our manifesto commitment to end the 8 am scramble.

[Olly Glover]

Great Western Park has added 3,000 homes to Didcot, in my Oxfordshire constituency, and Valley Park, which is under construction, will add 4,000 more. However, the new GP surgery promised in 2008 remains a barren patch of land and existing facilities cannot cope. The integrated care board is supportive, but progress has stalled due to NHS England’s involvement. Does the Secretary of State agree with me that integrated care boards should have the authority to direct primary care funding, and will he meet me to help to unblock the new GP surgery my constituents desperately need?

[Wes Streeting]

Let me come back to the hon. Gentleman after I have found out what has gone wrong in this case. As he points out, ICBs are responsible for commissioning, planning, securing and monitoring GP services within their health system, through delegated responsibility from NHS England, and capital is allocated to ICBs on a basis that takes account of annual population growth. I can understand his frustration and that of his constituents, so let me find out what has gone wrong and come back to him.

[Michelle Welsh]

After 14 years of a Conservative Government, poor access to GPs is something that we have come to know well in certain areas of my constituency of Sherwood Forest. In Hucknall, demand for GP appointments is overwhelming to the point that one practice has had to close its online system. Promises of a super-healthcare system were made by the previous Government but never delivered. Meanwhile, local Ashfield independent politicians have disgracefully used this as a political football. Does the Secretary of State agree with me that there has been far too much talk and not enough action, and that it is now time that both the integrated care board and Ashfield district council deliver on this?

[Wes Streeting]

It is of no surprise to me that my hon. Friend raises yet another example of Conservative broken promises, and the hot air that comes from independents, who have all the luxury of being commentators but none of the responsibility of ever having to deliver anything. I would be happy to meet her to look into what has gone wrong here. This has gone on for far too many years, and I can well understand her frustrations.

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[Gurinder Singh Josan (Smethwick) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

Since I last answered questions in this House, the Government have announced: half a billion pounds for a fair pay agreement for care workers; NHS Online, the first ever online-only hospital trust; and £80 million for children’s hospices. We have announced an independent inquiry into maternity services in Leeds, introduced Jess’s rule, implemented online requests for GP appointments, opened the 100th community diagnostic centre, made the chickenpox vaccine available on the NHS, and published NHS league tables—a lot done; a lot more to do.

[Gurinder Singh Josan]

We promised 2 million more appointments, and we have delivered 5 million, along with 2,000 extra GPs, 6,500 more mental health workers, 7,000 more doctors, and 13,000 more nurses and midwives. The cancer diagnosis standard has been met, GP satisfaction is up and waiting lists are down. The brand-new Midland Metropolitan University hospital has opened in my constituency. Does the Secretary of State agree that this is the difference that a Labour Government make, and that we are only just getting started?

[Wes Streeting]

Why stop there? We have 15,000 more home adaptations for disabled people through the disabled facilities grant and 135,000 more suspected cancer patients receiving a diagnosis on time. We have more than 200,000 cases off the waiting list, £500 million for the first ever fair pay agreement for care workers and the biggest uplift in carer’s allowance for a generation. The Tories did not do it, and Reform would undo it. That is the difference that a Labour Government make.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Stuart Andrew (Daventry) (Con)]

First, it is great to be in this new role. I genuinely want to be part of a constructive Opposition, but equally I want to do my role in holding this Government to account. I note the lack of detail in the Secretary of State’s answers on reorganisation, so can I ask the basics again? How many people will be made redundant, what will it cost and who is paying?

[Wes Streeting]

I welcome the shadow Secretary of State to his place. It is good to hear from the Conservative Front Benchers; I had almost forgotten they existed. The Conservatives created a complex web of bureaucracy. It is a bit rich to complain we are not abolishing their creation quickly enough. We have had a number of expressions of interest in voluntary redundancy across my Department, NHS England and the integrated care boards, and we are working through that as we speak.

[Stuart Andrew]

Again, the Secretary of State cannot answer. His answers are too vague. He is very good at making promises, but the facts are that he is presiding over a reorganisation that has stalled, creating uncertainty for staff. Waiting lists are up 50,000 in the past three months, hospices are in crisis because of national insurance contribution rises, and we have had strikes again—despite big pay rises—with the threat of more. If the Secretary of State wants the leadership in the future, perhaps he should show leadership in the NHS now, and tell us not just the plans, but when he will give the details and how he will deliver on his promises to patients.

[Wes Streeting]

Waiting lists are lower now than when Labour took office, and that is in stark contrast with the record of the Government in which the shadow Secretary of State served; waiting lists increased every single year they were in charge. This is the first year in 15 that waiting lists have fallen. That is the difference that a Labour Government make. We are only just getting started. As for leadership changes, we all know why they are calling the Leader of the Opposition “Kemi-Kaze”.

[Naushabah Khan (Gillingham and Rainham) (Lab)]

T4. A Channel 4 “Dispatches” documentary recently went undercover at an ambulance centre in my constituency of Gillingham and Rainham. It showed exhausted staff working under difficult circumstances—the result of years of Tory neglect and mismanagement of our NHS. Does my right hon. Friend agree that after the chaos under the last Government, this Administration will put staff and patients first? Will the relevant Minister come to my constituency to meet healthcare providers and discuss our local challenges?

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[Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)]

Every year we come here to discuss the winter crisis in the NHS, but this summer saw record waits at accident and emergency, with more than 74,000 12-hour trolley waits in June and July. That used to be unheard of. With winter looming and the potential for the A&E permacrisis to be even worse this year, what package of emergency measures is the Secretary of State putting in place to ensure that patients are not left to suffer on trolleys or worse in our hospital corridors this winter?

[Wes Streeting]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to point out that the NHS is already running hot ahead of winter. We brought forward our winter planning for this year to get ahead. We are making sure that all NHS trusts and systems have developed plans that have been tested regionally. The flu vaccination programme is well under way, the autumn covid-19 vaccination began on 1 October, and we are driving improvements in urgent and emergency care. This will be a challenging winter—we are not complacent about that—but we are getting the system ready for it.

[Markus Campbell-Savours (Penrith and Solway) (Lab)]

T5. After years of watching dentists in Cumbria turn their backs on the NHS contract and move those patients who can afford it to private plans, my constituency is now an NHS dental desert. Can the Minister confirm when the Government will publish their response to the consultation on quality and payment reforms, and tell us what we can expect to see in it?

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[Sojan Joseph (Ashford) (Lab)]

T6. After a decade of under-investment in our NHS under the Conservatives, I welcome the progress that has been made on reducing A&E waiting times under this Government, but there is no immediate fix. Just last month, a coffee shop at the William Harvey hospital in Ashford was converted into an emergency ward to treat A&E patients. Will the Secretary of State visit the hospital to see the continuing problems with corridor care, and will he update the House on what the Government are doing to ensure that the hospital can manage winter pressures and maintain safe, high-quality care?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing this matter to the House’s attention. It is appalling for coffee shops to be commandeered as spaces for the care of patients, and we will not accept it. I am happy to look at the case that my hon. Friend has mentioned. We will also be publishing figures on corridor care so that we can hold the system to account, and the public can hold us to account, to improve the situation that we inherited.

[Ian Sollom (St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

T3. The Arthur Rank hospice in Cambridgeshire is losing £829,000 in NHS funding, which is forcing the closure of nine beds—40% of its capacity. Does the Minister believe that dying patients are cared for better in overstretched hospital wards than in specialist hospices, and will he please not fob me off with talk of capital investment? This is about operational costs.

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[Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)]

T7. Hinchingbrooke hospital is one of the few hospitals in Cambridgeshire that are yet to have an electronic patient record system, and its current level of digital maturity is at the lowest end of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society scale. Hospitals within the new hospital programme are required to be at level 5 on the HIMSS scale, in line with the national digital capability framework. What financial assistance will be given to North West Anglia NHS foundation trust to facilitate an investment case, so that the rebuilt Hinchingbrooke hospital has a modern and enterprise-wide electronic patient record system?

[Wes Streeting]

The hon. Gentleman draws to our attention the appalling state that the NHS was left in by the previous Government. We are working at pace to introduce EPRs across the system. I am sure that Ministers would be happy to look at the case at his local hospital to clean up the mess that the Conservative party left behind.

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[Dame Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

In the Secretary of State’s list of what has happened since his last oral questions, he failed to mention the appointment of our hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West (Dr Ahmed) as a Minister. He is particularly looking at life sciences. Without life sciences and drug trials, we will not see an improvement in outcomes for rare cancers. Can the Secretary of State make a statement on what will be done about rare cancers?

[Wes Streeting]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to welcome my hon. Friend the Minister to his place. I will be honest: in effect, he has been a Minister since we came into government. We very much welcome the work that he has been putting in.

We are determined to do more on rare cancers, working with my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh). All the work that she is doing, particularly on rare brain cancers, is much appreciated.

[Rebecca Paul (Reigate) (Con)]

Most young people referred to gender identity services are same-sex attracted, neurodiverse and/or traumatised. Looked-after children are also over-represented in this cohort. Is the Secretary of State really comfortable with children being given puberty blockers, which essentially chemically neuter them, for the purposes of the PATHWAYS clinical trial?

[Wes Streeting]

Within days of taking office, I upheld the judgment made by my predecessor. We need to tread carefully and be sensitive in this space. We need to take an evidence-based approach to trans healthcare in our country, and that is the approach that this Government will take.

[Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

As you may be aware, Mr Speaker, Reform-led Lancashire county council has opened a consultation on the future of care homes across Lancashire, including the proposal to close Woodlands care home in my constituency of Hyndburn. Will the Minister join me in urging Lancashire county council not to take forward these proposals, to protect much-valued local services, and to keep care close to the community and to the amazing staff who support our residents in Woodlands care home?

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[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question and the inequalities to which he draws our attention. We will look at that report carefully. I am awaiting the recommendation of the UK National Screening Committee. We will look carefully at that, and I will report to the House on our decision.

[Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

The secure supply of medical radioisotopes is critical for the treatment and diagnosis of many conditions. Is this the Department’s responsibility, and does it support the Welsh Government’s Project Arthur scheme at the nuclear licenced site in Trawsfynydd in my constituency?

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[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

Greater transparency about NHS data should be used to drive improvements, so what assessment has the Health Secretary made of the impact on the Queen Elizabeth hospital in King’s Lynn of being forced to make savings of £18 million this year? What impact will that have on the need to reduce waiting times for A&E and cancer treatment, as identified in the league table that he published?

[Wes Streeting]

We are putting £26 billion more into the NHS this year, which is investment that was opposed by the Conservative party.

[Juliet Campbell (Broxtowe) (Lab)]

As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on dyslexia—an issue on which I have campaigned for many years—I remain alarmed at the high number of dyslexic people who still need to use mental health services. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can better serve dyslexic people in Broxtowe and across the UK, and will he consider measures to prevent more dyslexic people from needing mental health services?

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[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

My constituents’ baby, Bran Tunnicliffe, sadly died last year. His parents shared their experience with me, and described the wait for a coroner’s report as a lottery that depends on which hospital, pathologist and coroner is involved. I know that there is a shortage of pathologists in the UK. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss my constituents’ experience?

[Wes Streeting]

I am so sorry to hear that having experienced such unimaginable heartbreak, the family then had to go through that additional trauma. I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend and look at what we can do together with our friends at the Ministry of Justice to improve the experience for families in that awful situation.

[Mr Speaker]

For the final question, I call Gregory Campbell.

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[Wes Streeting]

I can absolutely give the hon. Gentleman that commitment. I work very well with my counterparts across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, regardless of party affiliations. I think he makes a very sensible suggestion.