The NHS matters deeply to me, to every one of my colleagues and to people right across the country. That is why we are not wasting a second in driving delivery and pushing forward with extending prostate cancer screening to protect men at most risk, appointing a new national maternity adviser to give every woman and baby a safe birth, and accepting the Mann review recommendations to rid the NHS of antisemitism and all forms of racism. Last week, with my hon. Friend the Minister for Secondary Care, I took the NHS modernisation Bill through its Second Reading. As Secretary of State, I am determined to accelerate modernisation and build an NHS that is fit for the future.
Following power outages at Eastbourne district general hospital that left operations and birth services suspended, hospital bosses submitted a strategic bid for more than £10 million to the estates safety fund to urgently fix the problem, which was rejected. How does the Secretary of State expect our hospital to provide consistent and safe care to patients if the power goes out?
I am aware of the issues at Eastbourne district general hospital. Patients, staff and visitors deserve better than power cuts and electrical failures, which is why this Government have set out a credible and deliverable plan to deliver the new hospitals programme. I would gently remind the hon. Gentleman and his constituents that many of the problems that the NHS estate faces today stem from its being starved of £37 billion of capital investment in the 2010s, when the Lib Dems were in government.
T2. One of the biggest barriers to accessing community healthcare in Bracknell Forest is constituents not being able to get routine diagnostic procedures done at their local GP or health centre, and instead having to travel. One constituent with cancer was told that he had to go to Guildford for a simple blood test. How will the introduction of a single patient record help to break down some of those barriers?
The single patient record will give clinicians timely access to a single trusted record so that decisions can be made more efficiently, avoiding duplication, allowing them to spend more time with patients. The system makes all information on a patient accessible in a single place and will allow the sharing of patient data among different settings, as my hon. Friend outlines, and provide more flexibility in where services are made available.
I begin by welcoming the Secretary of State and the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the hon. Member for Birmingham Edgbaston (Preet Kaur Gill), to their places.
The Secretary of State was in the Treasury when it imposed VAT on compassionate access medicine programmes, which provide some patients—especially children with cancer—with a vital last chance to access treatment. The policy has already led to the closure of one scheme. Will he now commit to abolishing this tax before any more follow suit?
One thing I learned when I was in the Treasury is that decisions about tax are taken by the Chancellor at fiscal events, so I am certainly not going to start taking decisions about taxation in my new role at the Dispatch Box today. The broader point is how important it is to ensure that we have the medicines that we need for the future. That is why this Government are investing so much in research, development and innovation, to ensure that we have the drugs and medicines we need for the healthiest possible population in the future.
I am sorry, but that was simply waffle. This matter needs decisive action now; these drugs are absolutely critical to some children. This cancer drugs tax has already closed one scheme, and companies are making real-time decisions now about whether to continue programmes in the United Kingdom. The Secretary of State must urgently get the Treasury to exempt compassionate use medicines permanently, so that the patients in most need can get these vital drugs, which, in some cases, are simply their only hope.
I have explained the position about decisions on tax. More broadly, it is critical that we have the medicines of the future that we need. One of my very first visits as Secretary of State for Health was to a company that is using AI to determine new opportunities for medicines and drugs to tackle cancers and some of the other illnesses that people face. Making sure that we are investing in businesses—British businesses—to drive that innovation is crucial, not just to the future health of our country but to economic growth.
T3. At the age of six, Ellis Lake was diagnosed with metachromatic leukodystrophy, which is treatable if diagnosed early. His parents Tracy and Luke are campaigning for newborn screening for the disease. The UK National Screening Committee did not recommend screening in its last review of the condition, but it did outline that it was gathering more evidence. Will the Minister look at how the process can be expedited?
I thank my hon. Friend for raising that very important matter. My sympathy is with the Lake family, and I commend them for their advocacy on this issue. I am acutely aware of the matter, having met the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) and her constituents about this issue last week, in a very moving meeting. I assure my hon. Friend that the Department is working with partners to see whether it is possible to set up a multi-condition evaluation, so that not only MLD but other rare conditions can be assessed alongside the existing screening programmes.
A damning report by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has estimated that more than 15,800 deaths were associated with long waits in emergency departments in 2025—I think we all agree that figure is an outrage—but the Government still have not published reliable data on long waits and corridor care despite promising to do so by the end of May. Will the Secretary of State tell the House what the Government are trying to hide? Will they adopt Liberal Democrat calls to end corridor care within a year by freeing up beds throughout hospitals and in social care to end the blight of excess deaths in overcrowded accident and emergency departments?
Let me be clear that corridor care is unacceptable and undignified and we are committed to eradicating it. We have begun by getting specialist teams to go into the worst offending trusts to ensure that we are getting rid of corridor care in those places. The NHS now has a national definition of corridor care for the first time ever. We will publish data on that shortly, because the first step in getting a grip of the problem is to be open and transparent about its scale.
T4. We all know that social care is in crisis, with huge staff shortages, unmet needs and councils’ finances being pushed to the brink, so it is disappointing that the King’s Speech did not contain anything on social care. Given that the full Casey review is not expected until 2028 and that implementation is estimated to take up to 2036, what steps is the Minister taking now to alleviate pressures in the system? Will the Government expedite social care reforms so that we can meet our manifesto commitment on a national care service?
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the work she did formerly as a care worker. The Government inherited a social care system in desperate need of reform. We are taking action, including by providing over £4.6 billion of extra funding for adult social care by 2028-29 and developing the first ever fair pay agreement for care workers. Baroness Casey will submit her first report this year with recommendations on the further action we should take to move towards a national care service.