Alison Bennett MP: speeches

Speeches

• 15 Oct 2024 · NHS Urgent and Emergency Care · Hansard source

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  I recently met representatives of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, who told me that the inadequate state of social care was resulting in the deterioration of people’s physical health, leading to more presentations at emergency departments. Does the Minister agree that if social care were properly funded, pressure on our hospitals would be reduced?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Sepsis Awareness · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) on bringing this important debate forward today. I also want to take a moment to recognise Abbi, who is in the Public Gallery, for her bravery in all she has done and for coming here today and the work she is doing just by being here and raising the profile of sepsis. While initiatives such as sepsis six have helped to improve outcomes for people who have sepsis in recent years, urgent challenges remain, in terms of both the awareness and the treatment protocols we have, and the resources we put into treating the condition. In preparing for the debate, I was able to grab five minutes with a constituent and a dear friend. She has looked after her mother, who was hospitalised and very ill for a long time, after being bitten by the family dog and developing sepsis. Eventually, over a number of years, she has been able to come home. As well as caring for her mother, my friend is a consultant geriatrician locally to me in Mid Sussex and has a great deal of experience of what it is like treating sepsis in hospital. She wanted to emphasise that awareness of sepsis has grown among healthcare professionals and is much better understood than it once was. The UK Sepsis Trust, through its action and activism, has seen a real increase in public awareness of sepsis. In 2012, only 27% of people understood the severity of the condition, but that figure had soared by 2019 to 76%. Awareness is going in the right direction, although more certainly needs to be done. While raising awareness is a part of this, public awareness alone is not enough. We must improve things such as diagnostic testing for sepsis through investment in hospital equipment and increased laboratory capacity. We cannot expect healthcare professionals to act swiftly if they are not given the tools they need to do their job to the best of their skilled ability. I was grateful to the hon. Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock (James McMurdock) for raising the issue of maternal sepsis. In September, the Care Quality Commission reported that 48% of trusts were rated “Inadequate” or “Requires improvement” for maternity services. Sadly, that includes my own trust, the University hospitals Sussex NHS foundation trust. Sepsis is just one risk factor in having poor maternity provision. All maternity units must meet high standards of care. That includes having adequate facilities and equipment and access to best practice care around the clock, especially for those experiencing miscarriage. Moving on to emergencies, we know that demand for ambulances is intense, not just because of the winter pressures that come around every year but because of longer-term pressures. In my seat of Mid Sussex, the South East Coast Ambulance Service is predicting a 15% increase in demand for ambulances over the next five years. Response times for urgent conditions such as sepsis need to be improved. Across England last year, the NHS failed to meet response targets in every region for category 2 emergencies, which includes sepsis. We need to increase the number of staffed hospital beds and improve social care to cut delays in ambulance handovers, and it is imperative that the Government publish localised reports on ambulance response times. We must create an emergency fund to reverse the closure of community ambulance stations. In conclusion, while we have made significant progress in raising awareness of sepsis, the fight is far from over. We must continue to push for better diagnostics, increased funding and improved care standards, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their background, has access to the best possible treatment.

• 12 Sept 2024 · NHS: Independent Investigation · Hansard source

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  I welcome the announcement of the Secretary of State about the shift from hospital to community care. My fellow Liberal Democrats and I fully believe that fixing social care is part of the solution in getting the NHS back on its feet, so I also welcome the announcement of a national care service. Part of care in the community is of course the hospice sector. I recently met the chief executive of St Catherine’s hospice, which is in the constituency of the hon. Member for East Grinstead and Uckfield (Mims Davies). He highlighted to me that, although the hospice has 24 beds, it is currently using only 12 of them. What assurance can the Secretary of State give me, and people right across the country, that fixing the hospice sector will be part of the solution as we take the NHS forward?

• 9 Sept 2024 · Student Mental Health · Hansard source

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  I thank the Minister for her answer. The Children’s Society has found that British 15-year-olds are the unhappiest in Europe, and school absences are at record levels, often due to poor mental health or inadequate support for special educational needs. Early intervention is key to tackling mental health issues among our children. Does the Minister agree that, by putting a mental health professional into every primary and secondary school, we could help end the youth mental health crisis?

• 9 Sept 2024 · Student Mental Health · Hansard source

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  9. What steps her Department is taking to support the mental health and wellbeing of students.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Council Funding · Hansard source

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  10. What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of council funding.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Council Funding · Hansard source

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  Can the Minister explain how the English devolution Bill will reduce local authority budget shortfalls, ensuring that essential council services for the public are protected?

• 26 Jul 2024 · Making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on your appointment to your new role. I congratulate the hon. Member for St Helens North (David Baines) on his maiden speech and election to Parliament. He is right to remind us all about the role of aspiration and all children seeking to do their best. I must pay tribute to my parents: to my father for sparking my interest in politics, and my mother for telling me, when I was 17, “If you don’t try, you’ll never know what you can do.” It is truly the honour of my life to take my seat in this place. I am the fourth person to serve Mid Sussex since the constituency was created in 1974. I thank my predecessor, now the hon. Member for East Grinstead and Uckfield (Mims Davies), who has already given her time and support in relation to urgent issues affecting children in both our constituencies. It would be amiss not to acknowledge the noble Lord Soames in another place, who is held in high regard by the good people of Mid Sussex. Due to the vagaries of boundary changes, I had to go back some 50 years to the maiden speech given by the late Baron Renton to find the original and only maiden speech made by a Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex. On reading that 1974 maiden speech, I briefly considered a simple copy-and-paste job, such is the relevance of his speech echoing through the decades to the moment we find ourselves in today. He raised concerns about the expansion of Gatwick airport, about housing growth without vital infrastructure, and about doctors and teachers not being able to afford a house. All those things are important to people in my constituency, as well as to the Liberal Democrats. Of special note was Baron Renton’s call for more generous attendance and disability allowances, so that people can be properly cared for by loved ones in their own home. The importance of having a care system that truly works and genuinely supports carers is critical to ensuring that we live in a civilised society, where regardless of someone’s life stage and their physical or mental health, they can live the best life possible and achieve their potential. We must care about care. We must make that a priority of this new Parliament. A significant proportion of Mid Sussex, and the area that is my home, was formerly—given the most recent boundary changes—part of the Arundel and South Downs constituency. I thank the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith) for his courteous and prompt handover of casework. I probably owe a bigger debt of gratitude to his predecessor, Lord Herbert of South Downs. The noble Lord might not realise it, but he played a hand in lighting the touchpaper on my political journey that has led me to be here today. During the EU referendum campaign, the noble Lord was chairman of Conservatives for Reform in Europe. He kindly agreed to come to my village one afternoon to join a cross-party stall for remain that I was organising. It might be said that he inspired me. As a Liberal Democrat, I will always advocate closer ties with our European allies and neighbours. We believe that, in a world this unstable and dangerous, we are stronger when we turn to face our closest friends and neighbours. Co-operation, not antagonism, is the best way of tackling the challenges that our planet faces. What of Mid Sussex? I feel confident in asserting that I and all my predecessors agree that the stunning beauty of our corner of England is spectacular. With the High Weald area of outstanding natural beauty in the north, and the South Downs national park in the south, we are truly blessed. I have felt truly blessed to call Mid Sussex my home for the past 12 years, not only because of its beauty but because of its brilliant people. It is a place where extraordinary things can and do happen because people pull together and step up. If it is not extraordinary enough that Mid Sussex, which had a Conservative majority of 27,000 back in 2012, has just elected a Liberal Democrat, just this week former England player Gareth Barry signed for Hurstpierpoint football club—a village football team—and Nathan Hales is competing in the shooting at the Paris Olympics. We are all rooting for Nathan and the whole of Team GB. However, it is about more than individual effort; it is about local collective determination. The village of Cuckfield has a proud identity, and it even made a unilateral declaration of independence in 1966 over the venue of the annual donkey grand national. The Bentswood Hub in Haywards Heath helps people young and old with their mental health, bills and housing. The Burgess Hill Pantry is trying to find a way to break the cycle of food bank dependency. This weekend, local charity Kangaroos is celebrating 30 years of helping children with learning disabilities and their families. There are also incredible groups working to tackle the climate crisis, which brings me to the subject of today’s debate. Fairer World Lindfield, Hurst Rethink, and Greener Hassocks and Ditchling are tireless advocates and campaigners for the idea of starting something to tackle the climate crisis rather than waiting for the Government to get on board. Greener Hassocks and Ditchling has put solar panels on the roof of Downlands community school in Hassocks. The Bolney wine estate has, in conjunction with the Brighton Energy Cooperative, put a solar array on the roofs of its winery, which now generates over 50% of the energy required to produce half a million bottles of wine. However, local groups can only do so much; they need the Government to create an environment in which it is easy to make the energy transition. Speeding up grid connections, for example, can currently take up to three years. We need to make better use of space that has no other purpose—industrial rooftops or the sides of railway lines—including for solar arrays. The will is there in Mid Sussex and, I am sure, right across the country. We need to do more and we must make it easy. Our communities, our constituents, our children and as yet unborn generations demand nothing less.

• 26 Jul 2024 · Pharmacy Provision: Hampton · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Government’s support for strengthening the pharmacy sector. The Minister talks about the workforce. Residents in my constituency have raised concerns about the pressure on pharmacists to take on more and more services that might traditionally have been provided by primary care. What assurances can he give me that he will make sure that the workforce plan for pharmacists is robust enough to cope with the extra demand?