GPs are at the front door to our NHS. Today, I can announce that we are supporting more than 1,000 surgeries across the country to modernise their buildings, backed by more than £102 million—the biggest public investment in GP facilities for five years. Following years of neglect, this vital funding will create additional space to see more patients, boost productivity, improve patient care and enable 8 million more family doctor appointments each year.
I very much welcome today’s announcement on refurbishing 1,000 GP surgeries across the country, because I have made it my priority to meet with as many GPs as possible in my constituency. Our local GPs have told me that our health centres need more physical space in order to accommodate growing local needs and facilitate the expansion of healthcare into the community. Is the Secretary of State willing to meet me and my local GPs to discuss how we can better improve the physical space needed for care to be brought closer to people’s homes?
I would be delighted to do so. Since we came into government, we have made this announcement today, put £889 million into general practice and agreed a contract with GPs, including reform for patient access and services. We are fixing the front door to the NHS, but of course that will take time. We recruited 1,500 more GPs by the end of March, but day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year, people should see improvements in their GP services thanks to Labour.
Taking medicines on time is important, especially for those with conditions such as diabetes and epilepsy. Dr Acheson, an A&E consultant who has time-critical medicines for his own Parkinson’s disease, understands that well. He has been running a quality improvement programme to ensure that time-critical medicines are given on time in A&E. Will the Secretary of State lend that project his support and commit to reviewing how time-critical medicines are delivered on wards?
I thank the shadow Minister for her constructive question. I would be delighted to hear more about that initiative. She is absolutely right about timely access to medicines, and through a combination of service reform and the modernisation of technology, we can assist clinicians and patients to help them to manage their medication and ensure that people get timely access to medicines.
I thank the Secretary of State for that answer, and I would be delighted to meet him to discuss it further.
Unfortunately, when Labour negotiates, Britain loses. The Government capitulated to union demands with nothing in return. It is therefore of no surprise to anyone that within months, they are back in dispute with resident doctors and the British Medical Association has announced a ballot for strike action. What will the Secretary of State do to protect patients and taxpayers?
I will tell the hon. Lady what we are not going to do: we are not going to see £1.7 billion wasted on strikes by resident doctors or 1.5 million cancelled operations and appointments, which is exactly what happened on the Conservatives’ watch. Within three weeks, we ended the strike by resident doctors and we have cut waiting lists by 200,000 as a result. As I have said to resident doctors, their pay offer will be fair and neither staff nor patients want to go back to the bad old days of strikes under the Tories. They had an unwilling and incalcitrant Government under the Conservatives, who were unwilling to work with resident doctors, but we want to work with them to deliver better care for patients.
T3. I pay tribute to my 17-year-old constituent, Arlo Lambie, who tragically died on 13 April following the diagnosis of a grade 4 brain tumour. I knew Arlo—he was a fun and bright lad who will be sadly missed. While Arlo’s parents, Ellie and Alex, wish to put on record their thanks for the “incredible and compassionate care” Arlo received at St Mary’s hospital on the Isle of Wight, they want to know what steps the Secretary of State is taking to improve NHS access to breakthrough treatments to ensure that the commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies do not take precedence, so that children with brain cancer, like Arlo, are given the best possible chance to survive for longer.
I add my heartfelt condolences to Arlo’s family. In September, we launched a new series of funding opportunities designed to improve brain cancer research for both adults and children. We are committed to furthering our investment and support for high-quality brain tumour research, ensuring that funding is used in the most meaningful and impactful way. Hon. Members will note that there is a debate on Thursday on brain tumours, and I will be attending the all-party parliamentary group on brain tumours next week.
In his statement to the House just after Christmas, the Secretary of State acknowledged that cross-party consensus is essential to delivering meaningful social care reform. The Liberal Democrats support him in that endeavour, but we still do not have a date for those cross-party meetings, so will he give us one now?
T6. West Cumbria, like many parts of the UK, is a dental desert. In some communities, urgent dental access centres have proved to be a real success at building up dental services, so will the Minister support my campaign to introduce an urgent dental access centre in west Cumbria?
The Government have launched a scheme to provide 700,000 urgent dental appointments. There are 57,500 allocated to my hon. Friend’s integrated care board. He will know that ICBs are responsible for commissioning primary care services based on the needs of the population, but I know that he is a strong campaigner for his constituents. I understand that his dialogue with his ICB on this matter has been positive and constructive, and I am sure that he will continue to fly the flag.
T2. The chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives has said that the axing of the maternity safety ringfenced pot would be a “wrecking ball” to the efforts being made to improve maternity safety. Just a single or a small group of babies being spared lifelong disability would pay for the cost of that ringfenced pot many times over. I know that the Secretary of State cares about this matter deeply, so will he reconsider?
The funding is still there, but as many people have urged me, including the right hon. Gentleman, we are taking the decision to give more freedom and flexibility to independent care boards, systems and providers to determine how they can best spend NHS resources on services to improve patient care, safety and outcomes. Everyone will know that maternity safety is understandably a priority for this Government. We expect the NHS to deliver on maternity safety standards and will hold it to account on that.
T7. Residents in Theale and across my constituency tell me time and again how hard it is to get a GP appointment, which causes distress and sometimes dangerous delays. Will the Secretary of State outline how his programme of reform and investment will end the 8 am scramble for good and deliver more GP appointments for my constituents?