Anna Dixon MP: speeches

Speeches

• 24 Jun 2025 · Department of Health and Social Care · Hansard source

  More

  First, I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I am a trustee of the charity Helpforce, a member of the Public Accounts Committee and an officer of the patient safety all-party parliamentary group. It was a Labour Government who founded the NHS on the principle that it would be there for us when we needed it. Patients in my constituency lost that confidence under the Tory Government. When they rang for a GP in the morning, they were told that it would be three weeks before they could be seen. If they rang 999, they were not confident that the ambulance would arrive. When they were referred for tests, they would be waiting months rather than weeks. These estimates show that this Labour Government believe in the NHS, believe in its future and can turn it around, so that again it is there when we need it. The spending review gives an uplift in day-to-day spending as well as a huge rise in capital budgets. It is those capital budgets that will enable the rebuilding of Airedale Hospital, which has been plagued by RAAC, and is vital to my constituents. I have seen at first hand the difference that good-quality primary care facilities can make with the completion of the extension at Grange Park surgery. I know that, with this settlement, the Government will want to see further investment in primary care, and I hope the Minister will confirm that. It is imperative that this extra spending helps deliver the shifts from treatment to prevention, hospital to community and analogue to digital. As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I helped to challenge officials at the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England as to why, despite commitments over many years to community and prevention services, the money had never followed under the Tories. I hope that, with Labour’s NHS 10-year plan, we will make it clear that the money will be there for community services and for prevention. I am very pleased that the Chancellor has put a stop to the raiding of capital budgets to fund everyday expenditure. These estimates rely on very ambitious productivity savings. At the heart of that is the health of our workforce, because too many are sick and absent from work. Volunteers can make a huge difference to retention because they improve staff wellbeing. Volunteering can also be a route for people to try out a career in healthcare. I urge the Minister to back the initiatives that support the use of volunteers.

• 24 Jun 2025 · Department of Health and Social Care · Hansard source

  More

  I will not give way, because we are under a time limit. In conclusion, I am confident that this funding settlement will help to put the NHS back on track and make it fit for the future.

• 24 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Ninth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  I commend the work that the Minister and Penny Dash are doing to look at patient safety and the changes going on at the CQC. Could he reassure us that, within scope, he is also looking at the role of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman? There seems to be some confusion about whether complaints under the Act fall to the CQC or the PHSO.

• 24 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Ninth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I carefully scrutinise the annual accounts of the Department of Health and Social Care. We have been urging that exactly how the breakdown of expenditure relates to issues is made more transparent within those accounts, such as how much is spent on mental health. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there are other ways in which we can scrutinise and hold the Department to account for its spend on mental health?

• 24 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Ninth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for drawing attention to this gap in the current law. Would she acknowledge that there is now evidence that the use of restraint and restrictive interventions can have serious long-term effects on a patient’s health and wellbeing? Indeed, there can also be an impact on those staff members who are required to carry it out, often with poor training.

• 24 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Ninth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  I draw attention to Lynfield Mount hospital in my constituency, which provides mental health in-patient care. It has a fantastic plan for upgrading its facilities, but at the moment it has secured only a proportion of the capital funding. Will the Minister meet me and local NHS leaders to see whether we can close the gap in the capital funding for that facility?

• 20 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Seventh sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Gentleman makes some very good points about the importance of patients being offered advance choice documents and being supported to make them, as the Bill describes. The evidence submitted from the General Medical Council makes it clear that it supports the duties as set out in the Bill, and it says that they are in line with the current good medical practice guidelines for professionals. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Bill, as it stands, fits very well with current medical practice?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  It is clear from what the Minister is saying that there are widespread concerns among health professionals about the change that was proposed in the other place, which would effectively give police powers to health and care professionals. Can he reassure psychiatrists such as my sister, and others working in mental health services, that they will always be able to rely on and work closely with their police colleagues to have that back-up when they are entering somebody’s home to potentially detain them?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  I am hearing that the hon. Gentleman supports clause 50, despite the very clear joint statement from organisations such as the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the British Association of Social Workers, the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. They see huge risks, not least the risk of the measure having an impact on the therapeutic relationship between clinicians and their patients. Is he ignoring that?

• 19 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  I declare an interest: my sister practises as a psychiatrist within the NHS, as the Minister knows. She has seen the important shift away from the use of police stations as places of safety and towards making sure that all patients have access to a place of safety in a healthcare setting. I know from my local police that, while they do their best to support people in distress in a police station, it is not the right place. This is the right thing to do, and I support the Government’s move.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Eighth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that health professionals do not wear stab vests or cameras? They are not equipped to go into dangerous situations. It is essential to protect healthcare workers and not put them at risk. We should maintain the current situation, whereby they work in tandem with the police, but the police are present for the detention.

• 17 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Fifth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  I think we are all agreed that, in order to implement the changes to the Bill, we need investment in mental health services, particularly community mental health services, but does the hon. Gentleman recognise that the Labour Government have kept the mental health investment standard, ensuring that there is sufficient and increasing investment in mental health in this country?

• 17 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Sixth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I will briefly speak in support of clauses 36 to 40. These clauses reflect the principle of least restriction, albeit for people who are subject to part III, and who are therefore subject to the deprivation of liberty conditions. It is really important that there are frameworks around conditional discharge, and these clauses will do a lot to bring it in line with best practice, and to put the limit set out in the best practice guidelines on a statutory footing to ensure that there is a 28-day transfer. To be successful, that will require multidisciplinary working between the health and justice systems. With that in mind, will the Minister give an assurance that he is confident that the 28-day limit can be met? If there is already data on how many transfers are made within that time limit, in line with best practice guidelines, that would give some assurance that the new statutory time limit is likely to be met. I am pleased to see that the time limit should be breached only in exceptional circumstances, and that the Bill specifies that a shortage of hospital beds or staff does not constitute exceptional circumstances. It is really important that that is not used as a reason not to transfer or discharge people later than the 28-day limit. Some of the discharge test rests not only on whether there is a risk of harm to another person, but on a public test. Can the Minister clarify how those two tests will work in tandem? Is that already being done in practice? Finally, I note that the evidence that we have received from the Care Quality Commission says that it welcomes closing the legal gap following the High Court ruling, as set out in the explanatory notes. However, the CQC believes that supervised discharge should be used only “when strictly necessary”, and I know that there are ongoing discussions between the Department’s officials and the Care Quality Commission. Can the Minister give an update on those discussions and clarify what role, if any, the CQC will play in the oversight of these measures? As the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon said, clauses 67 to 70 bring the Bill in line with youth justice practices and terminology, and with immigration policy. It is important that we take the opportunity to make sure that the Bill is fully up to date and in line with other pieces of legislation, so I support the clauses.

• 17 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Sixth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  Can the Minister assure us that there are powers in schedule 2 for the removal of a nominated person? One of the grounds is that any person engaged in caring for the patient or interested in the patient’s welfare may raise concerns—for example, a parent or other unpaid carer who has information that the nominated person is not acting in the best interests of the patient.

• 17 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Sixth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  Does the hon. Gentleman agree that one of the challenges of that court ruling, which will stand unless the Bill amends the law, is that there will be people detained for longer than is appropriate because a conditional discharge is not possible under the law as it is currently interpreted? The whole Bill is about the principle of least restriction. Does he not agree that we need to make this change to fit with that principle?

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the hon. Lady for so eloquently describing some of the variation in the use of drugs in the case of assisted dying. In normal practice we have a yellow card scheme, which allows for any adverse events from ingestion of prescribed medication to be reported. Is it her understanding that, under the current proposals, that would not happen for assisted dying? Is she also aware of a review that shows a great variation in the range and dosages of drugs used?

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I wonder what my hon. Friend’s view is of the opinion of the Royal College of Pathologists—the body responsible for medical examiners—which is that: “deaths following assisted dying should be notified to the coroner, just as other deaths following the administration of drugs, prescribed or not, must be.”

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for speaking so clearly about the issue of advertising. Does he recognise that this country has banned pharmaceutical advertising because we do not want to have the situation that exists in America where people are popping pills all the time? There is a reason that we are protecting patients and we need to do the same with assisted dying.

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend makes a strong argument for excluding private, for-profit providers. He may know that I tabled an amendment in Committee that would have limited the provision of assisted dying to charities; unfortunately, it was rejected. Will he clarify where and how he thinks assisted dying should be provided, and his understanding of the Bill in that respect, given the lack of clarification we have had from my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater)?

• 13 Jun 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  This is a very sensitive issue. There is data to support the fact that people from minoritised ethnic groups are less likely to trust their health professionals—the figure is 18% among the general public, but as high as 30% among those groups. Does my hon. Friend not think it is necessary to make sure there are additional protections for those who face additional barriers, such as people from minoritised ethnic groups?

• 12 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  I think there is some agreement between us, in the sense that obviously a police officer is not necessarily best placed to deal with those who are in mental distress. Having spoken to my local police team, I know that they would much rather there were frontline mental health professionals with the capability to take a person to a place of safety that is not a police station. We will come on to that in relation to later clauses, but does the hon. Gentleman agree that we already have some highly skilled professionals who are closely involved in these decisions in the form of approved mental health professionals? The vast majority of them—95%—are social workers. They play a very strong and excellent role, particularly to counterbalance the narrower clinical health perspective that there may sometimes be. Does he agree that, in a way, we already have in place some highly skilled individuals who are closely involved in making sure that these decisions are made in the best interests of the patient and the public, but also with clinical input?

• 12 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  Obviously, the Lords amendment puts the role of the police into law. I think we agree that we do not want to have the police’s role enshrined in legislation. Over the implementation period for this important Bill, the idea is that community health services will be in place, including urgent response for those who find themselves in crisis. We need to remove this provision to make sure that the default position remains for community support.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  I agree that it is really important to put it on a statutory footing. Obviously, other provisions such as subsection (5) of proposed new section 130ZA will ensure that it is regularly reviewed. There is no point in having such a plan if it is not regularly updated to ensure that it reflects trigger points, which the hon. Member for Guildford raised. When circumstances change for the patient, that is obviously an important point at which to reconsider their care and treatment. I want to go back to the Wessely review. The clause is such a fundamental part of realising all four of its principles. If I may, I will briefly read from the review: “We must improve choice and decision making, both prior to and within a setting of compulsion…We believe that improving patients’ and service users’ ability to make decisions about their own care and treatment is essential to upholding dignity.” The report recommended that where a patient has capacity, the care and treatment plan should record their wishes and preferences, whether expressed at the time or in an advance choice document.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Mental Health Bill [ Lords ] (Fourth sitting) · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Vickers. I will speak in support of the clause and Government amendment 30, and I may touch on the amendment moved by the Liberal Democrats. As we all know, community treatment orders were introduced in 2007 under previous legislation, with good intent at the time. There was too often a problem with revolving doors into in-patient settings, in particular for patients with psychosis and schizophrenia. The intent behind the introduction of CTOs was to allow patients to be discharged into the community as long as they followed certain conditions, to provide ongoing contact with mental health services, and to provide support and help to prevent relapse. Under certain conditions, patients subject to CTOs could be recalled to a hospital under the Act. The provisions in the Bill are still in line with those underlying principles about the restrictions and the person as an individual. The clause will amend the previous legislation, in particular to align the new risk criteria for detention, which we discussed in some detail under clause 5. It is important that there is consistency in the criteria for detention under a community treatment order, or indeed under detention in an in-patient setting. Again, that supports the need to use the orders only where serious harm may be caused to the health and safety of the patients or the person—the negative likelihood of harm, as we discussed with regard to similar amendments to a previous clause. There is wide support for the use of the criteria for detention as an in-patient as well as under the CTOs. One of the concerns, as the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth has discussed, is possible overuse and, in particular, disproportionate use in relation to race and ethnicity. Black people are seven times more likely to be placed on a community treatment order compared with white people. The Committee has received extensive evidence highlighting those racial disparities and the injustice not only in the application of CTOs, as the hon. Member pointed out—we will come to racial disparities in due course—but in the disproportionate use of CTOs to provide supervision in the community. The evidence from the Centre for Mental Health concerned the interprofessional variation among psychiatrists. Practice can vary even within the same area, so it is not just inter-area variation. That suggests a potential lack of a standardised application of the use of CTOs in some cases, which is perhaps slightly more subjective. The use of the clear criteria, therefore, along with the code of practice, will, I hope, certainly help to address the racial disparity as well as the unwarranted interprofessional variation in the use of CTOs that we see in practice. It is important that we consider the fact that people may be on a CTO longer than necessary, from the point of view of therapeutic benefit or, indeed, of the risk criteria. I commend the intent behind the amendment that was made in the other place, but there is a clear challenge in putting statutory limitations on the use of CTOs. We should allow clinical best practice, treat the person as an individual and apply the updated criteria in the Bill, recognising those individual cases.