Helen Morgan
MP for North Shropshire · Liberal Democrat · United Kingdom
“In 2022, we welcomed the first women’s health strategy, which promised to “listen more carefully to women, close gaps in care, improve research and tackle inequalities.” Those were all vital goals, but three years on, the problems remain stubbornly in place: long waits for gynaecology treatment, patchy access to services, women reporting…”
“I thank the Minister for outlining the existing statutory framework. I agree that it ought to be sufficient, but there are high-profile instances where it has not been, so I look forward to hearing more from her on Report about how the cultural change will be implemented so that further legislation is not necessary.”
“There is significant vaccine hesitancy across some ethnic minority communities and in hard-to-reach places across the country. We must do more to support doctors, nurses and the NHS to fight fiction with facts, or the long-term health of the country will suffer. That is what new clause 77 seeks to do.”
“May I associate myself with the Minister’s comments and thanks to everybody who has been involved in working on the Bill? I have also enjoyed my time on the Committee, despite the heat.”
“Some pockets of the population have been left unable to get an NHS dental appointment. The action taken so far by the Labour Government has not been good enough, but the fault for this dire situation lies solely at the door of the Conservatives. Their years of neglect have left our dentistry in a shocking condition.”
“New clause 36 would introduce a mandatory individual duty for members of NHS trust and NHS foundation trust boards to escalate evidence of systemic medical malpractice to the Care Quality Commission, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Health Services Safety Investigations Body.”
The complete record
Every one of 607 lines we hold for Helen Morgan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 11 of 13.
“There is no doubt that my constituents are concerned by crimes such as equipment theft and wildlife crime, but they are also really worried about drug dealing taking place in broad daylight in parks, in our villages and in country lanes. Can the Minister tell us what the Government’s drug strategy is to stop our young people being targeted by organised criminals, and also to improve community policing in rural places so that those criminals do not have the confidence to target our young people so willingly?”
“Sixteen years of Conservative mismanagement of Shropshire council combined with successive Governments’ failures to understand the needs of rural local authorities have left Shropshire council with a dire financial emergency and in need of exceptional financial support. The situation is critical. Can the Leader of the House assist me in arranging a meeting with the relevant Secretary of State and MPs for Shropshire so that we can press the Secretary of State to ensure that Shropshire receives that support?”
“Every time I go out and knock on doors in Whitchurch, inadequate access to the railway is brought up by countless people. Residents of Whitchurch who want to access the southbound platform to travel down to the county town of Shrewsbury or to exit the station when travelling down from the north are forced to tackle 44 steps up and down a footbridge. Those who are disabled or elderly, in a wheelchair or with heavy bikes, prams or large suitcases are often physically unable to access half of the trains going out of the station, or exit the station into the town when coming in from the north.”
“I beg to move, That this House has considered the matter of step free access at rural railway stations. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. In constituencies such as North Shropshire, access to public transport is poor. There are just three fully operational railway stations in North Shropshire, along with two very rural request stops. Shropshire’s second and third largest towns do not have a station at all. Whitchurch, home to around 10,000 people, does not have step-free access from the southbound platform. The station is a vital hub, particularly for the eastern side of the constituency and for those needing to connect with west coast main line services at Crewe or on to Chester or Manchester and southward to Shrewsbury, Birmingham and Wales. This has been an issue for a very long time.”
“The Government’s answers to pleas from Members across the House for approved stations to finally be released have made full use of the phrases “will be announced in due course” and “will be announced shortly”, but there has been nothing in the way of clarity, either in terms of the timetable or the stations to be included.”
“Over a year later, a press release identical to the May 2024 one was published by the Government, stating that feasibility studies had been given the green light, further adding to the confusion about the timeline for the work. In August, Lord Hendy then confirmed that the initial feasibility studies had been completed, and that a decision would be made on which of the 50 stations would be put forward for work to start in the context of the spending review 2025, which took place in July. Almost two months later, we are still waiting to learn the Department’s decision.”
“Nearly two years after I first wrote to the Department for Transport, shortly after I was elected, and after countless letters, questions and meetings, Whitchurch station was finally announced as one of the stations where feasibility work for a step-free solution would be carried out under the Access for All scheme in May 2024, shortly before the election. As one would expect, the announcement gave rise to hope in the town that work would finally be completed, and yet what followed was a chaotic confusion of mixed messages. Shortly after the general election the new Labour Government indicated that they would pause the projects while they sorted out the nation’s finances.”
“One Whitchurch resident told me that 10 years ago, sadly, they developed a neurological condition, which led to their retiring from their profession and needing to use a four-wheeled walking frame. They had to make frequent trips to the national hospital for neurology and neurosurgery in London, but were not able to use Whitchurch station. Instead they had to drive over 17 miles along a poorly maintained road to Crewe to access the station there. It is absurd that we must have a car to access the railway. Public transport is for people who do not have cars. The nation and the Government are trying to move towards more sustainable forms of travel, but preventing large numbers of people from using the railway will not help achieve that objective.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. She raises a good point because none of the stations in my constituency is staffed on a regular basis, which adds an extra dimension for people struggling with their mobility or carrying heavy items. The nearest alternative stations in Shropshire are Prees and Wrenbury. Both are request stops, where we have to stand on the edge of the platform and hail the train for it to stop. They are six and seven miles away respectively. To get from Whitchurch to Prees, which is southward—the way someone wants to go if they cannot access the platform—a person must travel over an hour by walking and taking the bus if they do not have a car. There is not an alternative option to get to Wrenbury. There is no parking at Prees station—just a widening in the grass verge by the road.”
“I would be grateful if the Minister set out the Government’s timeline for delivering step-free access to Whitchurch station, so I may share that with my constituents.”
“My hon. Friend makes a good point. I think there is an element of pork barrel politics and of making undeliverable promises shortly before the election. That is not forgivable, because it has created an expectation among constituents that cannot be fulfilled. As I was saying, the lack of clarity has added to the frustration of residents in places such as Whitchurch—especially in Whitchurch, because the plans for the lift are in place. It has been designed and Network Rail is keen to start work on the project, having designated it as a high priority for delivery in control period 7. All we need for step-free access at Whitchurch is a green light from the Department for Transport.”
“Those areas do not face the same fundamental issues that rural areas do. They have regular buses that come within minutes, even on Sundays, and train services that are more frequent than every two hours. If people choose to drive, they can do so without the risk of damaging their tyres because they have bumped into a huge pothole. In a town like Whitchurch, if the bus turns up the round trip to someone’s destination is likely to be more than two hours—even if it is only to Shrewsbury, which is 20 miles away. Investment like the Access for All scheme in rural areas is part of the solution to improving economic growth—to more businesses thriving, more people spending and more money flowing into our economy.”
“My hon. Friend is right: there should be more transparency, but there also needs to be more attention to the issue of step-free access in rural areas. I am about to come on to that in more detail. Improving the accessibility of Whitchurch station will bring more people to the town via rail. That obviously could boost tourism—Whitchurch is Shropshire’s oldest continuously occupied town and is well worth a visit, along with the other beautiful and historic towns in my constituency—and bring customers to local businesses, workers to job vacancies, critically, and families to their loved ones. Rural towns and villages have been consistently deprioritised by successive Governments and this Government, I am afraid, are no better, continually focusing investment into mayoral combined authorities’ coffers.”
“If the Government want to achieve their mission of stimulating growth across the whole country, they should ensure that everyone has proper access to public transport, not just those people who are lucky enough to live in an urban area. I hope that the Minister will ensure that the needs of our rural areas are understood and prioritised to turn the tide on decades of persistent under-investment in public transport and take the first step to making the railway step-free in rural areas, and especially in Whitchurch in North Shropshire.”
“I am sorry, but once someone has got in their car and driven 30 miles to access a step-free station, they may as well drive the rest of the way—I certainly would; that completely negates the point of public transport. Will the Minister please set out whether his Department intends to update those outdated and ineffective criteria to ensure that rural areas are not left forever without accessible stations? Of course, I understand that installing accessibility upgrades for urban stations may reach more people, but the people there already have other forms of accessible transport, often as well as a usable taxi service. In an area such as Shropshire, that is often not the case.”
“I welcome the £373 million scheme to deliver Access for All projects over the next five years on a £70 million annual rolling basis, but it is key that that money is distributed to places where access to the railway network is currently poor and where it will have the most impact. The only criteria that we could find for the provision of step-free access to railway stations come from joint code of practice created by the Department for Transport and Transport Scotland in 2015—a decade ago. It recommends that “stations that have a daily passenger flow of 1000 passengers or less…are not required to have lifts or ramps” if a station within 50 km of the same route provides a step-free route.”
“The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. Whitchurch, like, I would imagine, many of the towns mentioned in today’s debate, has seen a huge amount of development. The criteria that might have been applied for step-free access some years back probably need reassessing now, because far more people are living there. The investment would help revitalise our market town high streets, which have withered after years of the previous Conservative Government’s taking rural areas for granted. This Labour Government need to acknowledge the importance of rural parts of the country because they risk pushing the urban-rural divide to breaking point.”
“I want to re-emphasise the point that to a person who lives in Whitchurch, Gobowen is a long way away; they have to drive there. There is no parking at Prees. It is in the middle of nowhere—literally, because the station is not in the village. At Wem, the barrier is down for seven minutes when a train comes in; it is really inaccessible. Although fewer people use those stations, they have fewer options for public transport. I wonder whether the criteria are the right ones.”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. The situation she describes is similar to one that I am about to describe. A constituent of mine got in touch about a case of historical sexual abuse, which they bravely reported in 2018. After years of waiting, a trial date was set for this May, only for it to be put back again until July 2027—nine years after first reporting the case. I am sure, Mr Speaker, you can imagine the toll that has taken on my constituent’s mental health and wellbeing. I urge the Minister to progress at speed with her reform of the Courts Service and, in particular, address the problems in Shropshire where there are significant issues with the Crown court and magistrates court service.”
“In 2025, we should be in a place where the flow of information is smooth and patients in the UK need not worry where they are located or what nationality they are if they need healthcare. I call on the Minister to work with her colleagues in the Welsh Government to ensure that their health system works in harmony with ours. Devolution should not mean having a dysfunctional border region. It should help deliver the localised care that residents need. I look forward to the Minister’s response.”
“As a party, the Liberal Democrats believe that the best way to do it is by, for example: extending England’s secure nhs.net to Welsh GP practices to allow safe patient data exchange; expanding English clinicians’ access to the Welsh clinical portal, which is currently available just in Wye Valley, to improve safety and efficiency; implementing any further sensible measures integrating English, Welsh and Scottish secure email systems; broadening the Welsh clinical portal, including expanding the Powys teaching health board and Wye Valley trust data-sharing model to other border trusts; and investigating interoperability of the NHS app between countries to support patient communications.”
“It is essential for the health and wellbeing of residents on both sides of the border that we move to a system that focuses on a smooth flow of information between the nations and, crucially, that prioritises patient outcomes. Improvements should be built on existing systems and border projects, rather than attempting some kind of long-winded, full national integration.”
“The Betsi Cadwaladr university health board has no official responsibility for my constituents over the border in North Shropshire, but it does get funding from the Welsh NHS for each individual registered in Chirk. Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB presumably cannot afford a new surgery for the village, despite its being Shropshire’s largest village—it is also rapidly expanding—which means that residents must travel into Wales to see their nearest GP, with all the complications that entails. The best interests of English patients were disregarded by Betsi Cadwaladr health board because it was not responsible for those patients’ outcomes.”
“The 2018 “Statement of values and principles” has no legal force; it is a voluntary agreement that leaves patients powerless when things go wrong. What we really need is proper accountability, shared data and transparent funding, so that the border does not become a barrier to care. It should not decide how long people wait, what care they get and whether their doctor can access their records. One of the communities hit hardest by these challenges is St Martin’s—the largest village in Shropshire and, of course, in North Shropshire. Its GP surgery was a branch of the medical practice over the border in Chirk and it was overseen by Betsi Cadwaladr university health board. In 2022 it was closed, despite strong opposition from me and the village residents.”
“As we have heard from our Scottish colleagues in today’s debate, there is a similar situation on the Scottish border. A fundamental difference in national strategies has left those on the border torn between two healthcare systems and two sets of priorities. The pilot project between Powys and the Wye Valley is a glimmer of hope, but progress on that is too slow. This is leading to a situation in which it is harder to recruit GPs, referrals take longer and patients fall through the cracks, because the two systems do not talk to each other. Treatment pathways can be confusing and fragmented, as we heard from my constituent’s example. Patients are facing delays and disputes not because of medical need, but because of bureaucracy.”
“I ask the Minister to ensure that the Labour-led Welsh Government are working hand in hand with our English integrated care boards and hospital trusts to ensure that residents on the border—on the Welsh side and the English side—are provided with the care that they need and deserve. Behind the problem with funding flows lies another problem—the data-sharing chaos. After 25 years of devolution, NHS England and NHS Wales still cannot share patient records properly. Although England uses the NHS e-RS, or e-referral service, Wales uses the Welsh clinical portal, I am reliably informed. Clinicians often need multiple logins to access cross-border data, and GP-to-GP digital record transfers do not work between nations, with referrals, test results and discharge letters still moving by post or fax, which is an absurd situation in 2025.”
“Member for Caerfyrddin (Ann Davies) mentioned, are being asked to prioritise waiting lists based not on need, but on nationality. I am an accountant, not a medical expert, but how can clinicians at those trusts be expected to manage their lists if they must take into account nationality before clinical need? The teams in both trusts are working incredibly hard to bring down their own long waiting lists. They have ambitious targets to meet, but they are being instructed to leave some patients longer, for no obvious reason. It is clearly an untenable situation for those hospital trusts. The patients, who may be living with chronic pain, are being told to wait longer than necessary because they live in Wales. That is not fairness; it is failure.”
“Although my office resolved the issue fairly quickly, it should not be necessary for an MP to get involved in a funding flow across the border. That is not acceptable, and not how we should be dealing with cross-border care. As my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe and the hon. Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden) have described, Powys teaching health board has set waiting times for elective surgery that are arbitrarily long and without reference to clinical need. That means that Shrewsbury and Telford hospital NHS trust, which treats my constituents, and the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt orthopaedic hospital, which is in my constituency and provides the veterans centre that the hon.”
“The 2018 cross-border statement promised that no patient would face delay or disadvantage because of which side of the border they lived on, but in reality that promise has not been kept. Another constituent of mine who is registered with a GP in Wales was unfortunately diagnosed with breast cancer about 18 months ago. Her GP in Wales was very good; her initial care was excellent, and she was set to have a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in Telford, but a couple of days before the surgery she was told that the Welsh health board would not be paying for the reconstructive element of the surgery. Obviously she was distressed and very scared about her future, and worried about having to wait longer to have that vital surgery because the funding issue needed to be sorted out.”
“Take for example many of my constituents whose GP will be in Wales because that will be their closest GP, and who usually attend Wrexham Maelor hospital for investigations and procedures, because if they live in north-west Shropshire that is almost as close as the hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford. It is certainly closer than Telford. In an emergency, because their address is in England, the ambulance that they are sent comes from the West Midlands ambulance service and it is most likely that they will be taken to Shrewsbury or Telford hospitals as a result. When they get there, those hospitals are unable to access their medical records, including any recent blood reports or clinical history. I think the Minister will agree that that is inherently dangerous for those patients, whose only “fault” is to live close to the border.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe (David Chadwick) for securing a debate that is really important along both the Welsh and Scottish borders. It is always a pleasure to respond for the Liberal Democrats. This is an issue that my own constituents deal with daily, because North Shropshire has a very long and winding border with Wales. My office, as a result, has dealt with many upsetting pieces of healthcare casework that stem directly from the broken and disjointed system that serves our border counties and, critically, the lack of information that flows between them, as we have heard.”
“T6. I have been campaigning on service family accommodation since shortly after my election, so I welcome the Government’s commitment to improving it over the past few weeks. However, single living accommodation continues to be a considerable concern. There have recently been reports of rat infestations at RAF Shawbury in my constituency. What will the Government do to improve single living accommodation, which is equally as important as service family accommodation?”
“16. What steps he is taking to help tackle the potential impact of the lack of indexation on pre-1997 pensionable service in defined benefit pension schemes on people affected.”
“I have been contacted by a constituent who, along with her husband, worked for Hewlett Packard. They accrued their pensions before 1997, and now, along with about 50,000 members of the Pre-97 Alliance, they are facing real financial hardship. In 10 years’ time, their pensions will be pretty much worthless. Will the Minister not consider legislating to ensure that these people are not left in poverty, having been promised proper pensions when they started work for the companies concerned?”
“T5. The 25-year-old son of one of my constituents unfortunately lost his leg when it was amputated above the knee after a motorcycle accident, but he was awarded personal independence payment and a specially adapted car, and he has been able to rebuild his life. However, in August he was told that the PIP and the adapted car would be withdrawn from him. Sadly, he is clearly not going to get any better. How can we be in a situation where people whose condition is permanent are having their support withdrawn?”
“I look forward to seeing them deliver that plan, and ensure that it is deliverable through an associated workforce plan, at the soonest opportunity.”
“We would set up a dedicated fellowship scheme for US cancer scientists, who have seen their funding gutted by President Trump. Without, for example, sufficient radiographers, specialist nurses and diagnostic equipment, even the most promising screening initiatives introduced here risk being delayed or underutilised. The Government need to commit to the funding of early screening programmes, and to training and retaining the workforce required to deliver them. A comprehensive, well-supported roll-out would allow thousands of people at risk to be diagnosed at a much earlier stage, when treatment is far more effective and survival rates are significantly higher. The national cancer plan provides a huge opportunity for the Government to turn cancer care around in this country and deliver world-class care for every community.”
“While routine NHS workforce statistics are not available for nurses working in cancer specialities, a nursing fill-rate dataset obtained by FactCheck for “Channel 4 News” showed that a third of acute trusts in England were missing at least 10% of their planned nurses across haematology and oncology wards, based on monthly average data between January 2023 and November 2024. That is why the Liberal Democrats are pressing for more cancer nurses—so that every patient has a dedicated specialist nurse supporting them throughout their treatment—and for expanded community nursing. We have also been campaigning for the UK to lead the world in cancer research through new funding and the waiving of burdensome fees and bureaucracy for international researchers.”
“There are also woeful shortages of specialist training places, meaning that we do not have the cancer specialists we need. At the same time, there is rising doctor unemployment despite growing need for their services. It is a damning indictment of the Conservatives’ mismanagement and failure to plan the workforce. A workforce plan for the NHS—including a workforce plan to support the cancer strategy—is imperative, and must address the issues of retention and career progression for doctors, nurses and other skilled staff across all specialisms.”
“In 2024, the Royal College of Radiologists estimated that the clinical oncology workforce was about 15% smaller than required to meet demand, and projected that that shortfall would rise to 19% by 2029. It also reported that, among the 50 cancer centres surveyed in England in 2024, 76% of heads expressed concerns about patient safety due to workforce shortages. We also cannot ignore the reality of working conditions in our NHS and their impacts on staff retention. The previous Conservative Government left our NHS under unbearable strain, with professionals working under intense pressure in crumbling hospitals and often without the resources they needed, rather than in safe clinical settings. That does not help the retention of a highly skilled and experienced workforce.”
“I hope that the workforce plan, which will go with the cancer strategy, will address that. BMJ Group research found that every four-week delay to starting cancer treatment is associated with a 10% decrease in cancer survival. Constituents such as mine, who have had horrendous waits for treatment, are bearing the lethal brunt of delays. NHS workforce statistics show that between June 2020 and June 2025, the number of full-time-equivalent cancer specialists has risen: by 32% for clinical oncologists, 48% for medical oncologists and 27% for the clinical radiology workforce. Clearly, those statistics are welcome. However, analysis from the Royal College of Radiologists argues that the increase in workforce capacity has not kept pace with the ever-growing demand for cancer services, which is inevitable in an ageing population with poor health.”
“That, however, is a significant improvement on its previous situation, with performance against that target improving by more than 15.4% over the past year. That progress is welcome, obviously. I am optimistic that it will be sustained and I commend and thank the tireless work of staff across the trust in driving those improvements. Staffing levels, especially for radiologists doing diagnostic scans, have been a large part of the problem in Shrewsbury and Telford. Outsourcing the interpretation of those scans has led to a dramatic improvement in the speed at which the results come back and demonstrates the importance of having enough skilled staff and the speedy diagnostics that can help with early treatment commencing. That issue is particularly severe in rural areas.”
“The Government should take bold action: ensuring that every patient starts treatment for cancer within 62 days of their urgent referral, recruiting the cancer specialists we need, and replacing ancient machines and delivering new ones. The situation on the ground at the moment is not very good. My constituents in North Shropshire have had to deal with some of the worst backlogs and performance in England for years. One told me that they waited almost a year before their treatment began—that is simply not okay. Look at the target of treatment starting within 62 days of urgent referral: Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust only achieved 68.8% for the month of August this year, compared with a target of 85%.”
“No one should be unable to receive treatment because there is not enough equipment or sufficient staff to properly support them. It is a scandal that so many people live in treatment deserts and are forced to take incredibly long journeys for treatment, often after weeks of waiting for that treatment to begin. In that context, the introduction of a national cancer strategy is incredibly welcome. It should help to boost cancer survival rates. I am very proud that my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham—who, as we have heard, is a widely respected cancer campaigner—has helped to secure a commitment from the Government to introduce such a plan. It is really important that when this plan comes, it is meaningful.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) for securing this important debate highlighting the issue of staff shortages and the impact on cancer patients and the outcomes that they achieve. Cancer should be a top priority for any Government, and the UK—with its historically thriving life sciences sector—could and should be a global leader in cancer research and outcomes. Sadly, at the moment, that is not necessarily the case. The last Conservative Government broke their promise on a 10-year cancer plan that would have made a real difference to patients. We must put an end to the tragedy of people losing their lives because cancer treatment takes too long to start.”
“A number of constituents have come to see me about adaptations made to their home under the ECO4 scheme, where an installer has received a grant from the Government—from the taxpayer—to hopefully improve the energy efficiency of their home, but what the homeowner has actually experienced is significant disruption and energy bills that have gone up. The payment to the installer from the taxpayer is based on estimates of the household’s energy use before and after—there are no facts involved. Can we have a statement from the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on whether these schemes represent value for money for the taxpayer and the homeowner, and whether they can be made more efficient in the future?”
“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?”
“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?”
“A serious fire at St Martin’s school in my constituency has left most of its secondary children without face-to-face education for nearly four weeks now. Will the Minister meet me to determine how we can ensure that the buildings are brought back into use as quickly as possible, and how the children can be brought back up to speed, so that they are not disadvantaged?”
“I thank the hon. Member for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton) for bringing this statement forward. I am sure that all Members are shocked by the statistics showing that black and Asian women have much worse outcomes than white women in maternity services, but we must recognise that improvement in maternity services has stalled overall as well. Does the hon. Member agree that protecting the ringfenced funding is critical to ensuring safe staffing in the future? I hope the Committee will continue to push for that.”