Health Services: Bridlington

need more support and

“a variety of different physical and mental health professionals and often rely on social care too. The frequency of their interactions with the health service means that their care is more complex and therefore requires coordination.”

Finally on this point, Lord Darzi is right to say that

“care should be delivered in the community, closer to where people live and work”,

and that

“hospitals should be reserved for specialist care. This is more convenient for patients—especially for those with long-term conditions who will need contact with the NHS more frequently.”

I would also like to refer the House to the chief medical officer’s 2021 annual report on health in coastal communities. In this insightful piece of work, Sir Chris Whitty noted:

“Given the known high rates of preventable illness in these areas, the lack of available data on the health of coastal communities has been striking whilst researching the report. Coastal communities have been long overlooked with limited research on their health and wellbeing. The focus has tended towards inner city or rural areas with too little attention given to the nation’s periphery.”

He went on to add:

“Data is rarely published at a geographical level granular enough to capture coastal outcomes, with most data only available at local authority or Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) level. As a result, deprivation and ill health at the coast is hidden by relative affluence just inland which is lumped together.”

In conclusion, he recommended:

“Given the health and wellbeing challenges of coastal communities have more in common with one another than inland neighbours, there should be a national strategy to improve the health and wellbeing of coastal communities.”

Unfortunately, and perhaps as a result of the health service working its way through the impact of the pandemic, the report has been somewhat sidelined and the recommendations have yet to be acted upon, so what should be the solution?

We need a comprehensive strategy, bringing together all parts of the health service, that recognises the challenges and put together an immediate action plan. The Humber and North Yorkshire integrated care board is trying to address these issues, but I am concerned about exactly what its role is, or should be. Some ICBs interpret their population health duties as requiring them to act upstream of healthcare needs on the social determinants of health, where the NHS has few direct levers. Other ICBs interpret their duties as requiring them to understand and adjust healthcare services to match the needs of the population that they serve, in line with the NHS operating framework. Some interpret them as both and others as neither, preferring to focus on what they see as their traditional role of performance managing providers. Ultimately, their roles and responsibilities need to be clarified so that they can be better held to account. This is not a criticism of the performance of my local ICB, which is working hard to tackle the challenges, but I think we would all benefit from greater clarity of purpose.

In conclusion, we cannot escape what is in front of us. As one senior local authority figure commented to me:

“The health crisis in Bridlington is not a car crash waiting to happen, it is happening right now.”

My appeal to the Minister today is simple. I have no doubt that he has the very best of intentions when it comes to improving the nation’s health, but realistically many of those ambitions will take decades. If he wants to make a real difference today, will he please focus some of his Department’s collective effort on tackling the enormous health inequalities in seaside towns such as Bridlington, and will he please take the recommendations of Lord Darzi and Sir Chris Whitty and apply them to our town? We are happy to be his pilot scheme or his trailblazer.

I know that with the right energy and direction, we will not be left with a generation of children who have never seen a dentist and we will not have elderly people travelling long distances for regular routine appointments. Instead, we will have a health service to be proud of and a happier and healthier local population. I implore the Minister and his Department to work with me to ensure a better future for the brilliant people of Bridlington.

The Government are committed to restoring our health and care system to its founding promise that it will be there for all our constituents when they need it. I hope that context helps the hon. Gentleman to understand that we are taking this very seriously, and that we do not want to make policy in the ivory towers of Westminster or Whitehall. This needs to be a national conversation, feeding into a 10-year plan that will be published in the spring of next year.

I will now address some of the hon. Gentleman’s specific points. First, I share his concern about dentistry access. The single biggest cause of children aged between five and nine being admitted to hospital is to have their rotten teeth taken out, which is frankly a disgrace. As the Prime Minister said a few weeks ago, it is soul-destroying for those young people, and it can so easily be prevented. That is why we will work with the sector to reform the dental contract, with a focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.

In the meantime, we know that patients cannot wait. We will not wait to make improvements to increase access in the current system. That is why we are working to deliver our rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments. These will be available across the country, including, of course, for the residents of Bridlington. I am aware that an initial procurement for the additional service in Bridlington was unsuccessful. The ICB has since reviewed the specification and is working to further understand what may work best for the town, with preferred options for procurement due to be approved this month.

Unfortunately, people across the country will recognise the picture that the hon. Gentleman describes of GP access in Bridlington. Almost everywhere, patients are finding it increasingly difficult to see a GP. When they cannot get an appointment, the chances are that they will end up in accident and emergency. This is unacceptable, as it is worse for patients and more expensive for the taxpayer. Lord Darzi is clear that the situation is particularly acute in certain areas—that speaks to the hon. Gentleman’s point about health inequalities—and Bridlington is one such area.

Our plan starts with recruiting over 1,000 newly qualified GPs through an £82 million boost to the additional roles reimbursement scheme. In the longer term, we are committed to training thousands more GPs, guaranteeing face-to-face appointments for all those who want one, delivering a modern appointment booking system to avoid the 8 am scramble and, ultimately, shifting resources from acute care into primary and community care.

The hon. Gentleman raised the recent merger of GP practices in Bridlington, where six practices have been consolidated into two larger practices. These decisions are, of course, made by local commissioners, who determine what services and care pathways best serve the needs of patients in the area. I am pleased that performance has improved in both practices, with one demonstrating some of the best access within the integrated care board footprint. Of course, there are still issues, and the people of Bridlington deserve better, which is why we are committed to delivering our plan for primary care.

The hon. Gentleman also mentioned Bridlington hospital, which currently provides a range of services, including an urgent treatment centre, radiology, rehabilitation, in-patient surgical wards and out-patient clinics. Patients attending those services can, and often do, come from outside the Bridlington area. I am aware that there is more space at the hospital that can be used, and I can assure him that we are looking carefully at capital requirements as part of the spending review. We will know more about that on 30 October.

I hope I have addressed some of the hon. Gentleman’s concerns. I absolutely agree with his view about health inequalities, and it is quite shocking to hear the difference between one ward and another in his constituency. Those gaps have to be narrowed, and a lot of this is about ensuring that people are not only living longer but living healthier lives. The increase in complex conditions that we are now seeing at younger ages is creating huge pressure on our health system, and it is not good for his constituents either. I absolutely understand and see the context in which we are operating, and that is a top priority for the 10-year health plan we are bringing forward.

In conclusion, I thank the hon. Gentleman for bringing forward the issue and giving me the opportunity to reiterate from the Government Dispatch Box our promise to fix our broken health and care system and deliver for people in Bridlington and across Yorkshire. Sadly, the situation he describes resonates with the broader findings of Lord Darzi’s review. The health and care system is in a critical condition, but I assure him that this Government are committed to getting our healthcare system back on its feet and fit for the future.