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.”
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“Before concluding, I will raise the subject of the fundamental reorganisation of the NHS, which is being undertaken without any meaningful parliamentary scrutiny. NHS England announced the decision to slash ICB running costs by 50% by the end of this year, with detailed plans to be submitted by the end of last month. No impact assessment for that drastic change was undertaken by the Department and, as far as I can see, there is no funding from the Treasury for potential redundancy costs and no confirmed redundancy scheme. ICBs will be expected to transfer some statutory duties to other trusts without that change being on any formal statutory footing. The guidance from the soon-to-be-abolished NHS England has been hastily prepared.”
“Those voices deserve to be heard in Parliament, but that opportunity was denied. I welcome the inquiry, but remain dismayed at the slow progress since Donna Ockenden’s shocking report into the Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust in spring 2022. She recommended 15 immediate and essential actions for national implementation; three years later, that has not happened, and the Government have removed the ringfence from funding intended to ensure safe staffing levels. Her findings were consistent with those after other maternity scandals, and the Government accepted her recommendations. It is vital that the inquiry moves the situation forward and is not used as a distraction tactic to delay real action.”
“It was disappointing to see the Government abandon mental health waiting list targets and reduce the overall proportion of money spent on mental health, while proclaiming that they were meeting the mental health investment standard because, at integrated care board level, there had been a fractional increase. I urge the Minister to ensure that mental health is given priority, and to ensure that prevention, through early intervention, can bring about improved outcomes. Yesterday, the Secretary of State announced a new national investigation of maternity services. I was disappointed that no oral statement was made. Many MPs represent constituents whose families have been left distraught by maternity service failings at Shrewsbury and Telford, East Kent, Morecambe Bay, Nottingham, and potentially other trust areas.”
“At a bare minimum, we need a higher minimum wage for care staff to stop the sector haemorrhaging workers. It is more urgent than ever that the cross-party talks for which the Government had such enthusiasm at the start of the year are reinstated. The terms of the Casey review, which leaves fundamental restructuring of the care sector to 2036, are not ambitious enough. The review needs to be completed this year, so that meaningful change is not put off while our population ages. I turn to mental health. The Darzi review outlined in stark terms the fact that mental and physical health are not given parity in the health service; mental ill health takes up 20% of the caseload and only 10% of the funds. Proper investment in mental health is essential to the shift from treatment to prevention.”
“We know that the Conservatives’ plans were unfunded, but this capital spend must be brought forward so that crumbling hospitals in places like Torbay, Watford, St Helier and Stepping Hill can be rebuilt as soon as possible, because spending billions on maintaining buildings that face demolition in the next 20 years is not a wise use of taxpayers’ money. The Liberal Democrats believe that the crisis in the NHS—particularly in accident and emergency—cannot be solved unless we transform social care. We have long argued that investment in the NHS will be pouring good money after bad if hospitals cannot discharge patients because there are no care workers to help them recover. The fair pay agreement for care workers is a start, but it will not touch the sides of the yawning abyss of current and forecast vacancies in the care sector.”
“The Liberal Democrats support the principles of the Secretary of State’s three shifts and have stated on many occasions the alternative means we would use to raise the necessary funds, but today’s debate is about how the money should be spent. I was pleased that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury’s statement last week incorporated a measure that the Liberal Democrats have long called for, not least in our last Opposition day debate in April: a ringfenced fund for maintenance, to deal with the huge repair backlog that has built up across the NHS estate. However, I must reiterate the need to go faster with the new hospital programme.”
“I congratulate the acting Chair of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Birmingham Erdington (Paulette Hamilton), on securing this important debate and on her excellent opening speech on the risks inherent in the spending review settlement. The Conservatives left our NHS in a disgraceful state that is impacting every one of our constituents. On their watch, people with life-threatening emergencies were left waiting hours for ambulances, hospitals were left to crumble, and accessing a GP became a huge challenge. The collapse of NHS dentistry has left some people pulling out their own teeth at home. It is essential that the new Labour Government are bold and ambitious in turning the NHS and care sectors around.”