Anna Dixon MP: speeches

Speeches

• 15 Sept 2026 · Public Accounts Committee · Hansard source

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  I commend my hon. Friend for all her years of work on the Public Accounts Committee and for her leadership and foresight in making sure that the work was done by the National Audit Office. We did hear some examples. In particular, the infected blood compensation scheme is not run by the Department of Health and Social Care, but has a degree of independence from being run out of the Cabinet Office, and that makes a difference. There were some examples where there had been some co-design with victims, but those examples were too seldom. Unfortunately, across the examples we looked at, there were simply too many examples of things that went wrong. In learning those lessons, we need to make sure that the emphasis in any future Government compensation scheme is on co-design, timeliness and fairness for victims.

• 15 Sept 2026 · Public Accounts Committee · Hansard source

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  As an officer of the all-party parliamentary group on patient safety, I am very well aware that the Hughes report is still in the Government inbox, awaiting a response. I also have constituents who are victims of the pelvic mesh scandal, which obviously particularly impacted women, and I hope that we will soon hear the Government’s response to that report. Hopefully, they will be able to bring forward more swiftly a Government compensation scheme that works, co-designed with the victims, as our report recommends.

• 15 Sept 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Jimmy, the son of two of my Shipley constituents, was given an IPP sentence with a tariff of two and a half years in 2007. He remains in prison with no set release date, despite having passed his mental health tribunal. I strongly welcome the Prime Minister’s recent announcement to review these unjust sentences, but can the Secretary of State assure me that prisoners with autism, like Jimmy, will get the support they need to start a new life?

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  I chair the all-party parliamentary group on hospice and end-of-life care, and I wonder whether my hon. Friend shares my concern. Given that an estimated 170,000 people die in this country each year without access to palliative and end-of-life care, there can be no choice until hospice and end-of-life care are properly funded.

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  On that point, will my hon. Friend give way?

• 11 Sept 2026 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Member give way?

• 8 Sept 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that the ethnic inequalities we see in cancer outcomes and access to cancer treatment such as radiotherapy should also be included in the suggested review?

• 7 Sept 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  I worked as a civil servant for the coalition Government, and I saw at first hand some of the duplication and confusion caused when NHS England was set up, so I welcome this Bill and the decision to abolish NHS England. However, reversing the fragmentation caused by the Tories’ failed reforms of the NHS will not on its own create a more integrated and joined-up service for patients and carers. That is why I have tabled new clause 106, which would require the Secretary of State to report to Parliament within six months of the Act passing on how well NHS bodies and local authorities are working together to integrate health and social care in England. Having worked in the health and care sector, I know how vital it is to have integrated services, and I know as an MP, as I am sure do others, and from personal experience how devastating unco-ordinated care can be for patients, their families and our NHS. One of my constituents, Ellerie Carroll, was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, an inoperable brain tumour, in September 2024. Very sadly, she died in May this year, aged just nine. Ellerie and her parents, Freya and Christian, suffered in ways that are unimaginable, but it was a lack of co-operation between services that added to their suffering. To give just one example, after going for a MRI scan at Great Ormond Street hospital, Ellerie had to endure a repeated scan at Leeds General Infirmary in Leeds due to an inability to share results between hospitals. I hope that the single patient record, which the Bill also creates, will help to join up systems and reduce such problems. We see disjointed care within the NHS between hospital and community services, but also between health and social care. Another constituent, Roger, in his 90s, had a fall and serious head injury last year. After the acute hospital treatment in Leeds, there was a failure in the NHS to join up his care with Bradford social services, resulting in delays to his discharge. He developed infections and delirium. After nine months of being moved from one hospital to another, and despite his wife fighting to get him home with support, he died in hospital. These are the consequences when our health and care systems are not integrated. It is also expensive. Around one in 10 hospital beds in England are occupied by someone who does not need to be there, often because community care or social care are not available. Any reform of the NHS will ultimately fail unless we simultaneously reform adult social care. That is why I welcome the priority given to this issue by the Prime Minister and the commitment he made to bring forward the conclusion of the Casey commission. But even if we build a national care service, which we must, there is a risk if it does not work in sync with our national health service. It is essential that we place very clear obligations on all parts of the NHS to co-operate and integrate with social care. I ask the Minister to set out in her closing remarks how she and the Secretary of State will monitor the Bill’s impact on integration, and how they will ensure co-operation remains a critical priority for the NHS—not just on paper, not just in law, but in the way that we all experience health and care in a joined-up way.

• 7 Sept 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend and others on the Select Committee who did the work on strengthening local authority representation on integrated care boards. Does he agree with the sentiments of my new clause 106, which says that we need a stronger duty to co-operate, both within the NHS and between the NHS and local authorities?

• 3 Sept 2026 · Global Biodiversity and Ecosystems: National Security · Hansard source

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  I was with the hon. Gentleman at the national emergency briefing, and like him I have many constituents to whom I am grateful for organising local screenings. Does he agree that climate change is not only an emergency, but a public health emergency? That is clear not only from the heat deaths in the UK, but the global impact on public health of water scarcity and the spread of malaria to new regions. Does he also agree that we should continue to support the likes of the World Health Organisation in efforts to tackle what is both a climate and public health emergency?

• 8 Jul 2026 · NHS Corridor Care · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 8 Jul 2026 · NHS Corridor Care · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate. She has spoken about some of the impacts of this issue. My 80-odd-year-old mum was recently admitted to Airedale hospital with acute respiratory issues. She had to wait in a chair for over 12 hours, alongside my dad, in a very undignified way. Does my hon. Friend agree that ideally we should be preventing admissions for older and frail patients, and does she believe that the stronger proactive primary and community care services proposed by the Government with neighbourhood health teams could help to prevent some admissions for older and frail elderly people like my mum?

• 8 Jul 2026 · NHS Corridor Care · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend that it is not about fixing the problem at the front door; it is about fixing the problem at the back door. Does she agree that closer integration of health and social care is part of the answer to enable that flow through hospitals out into the community? During the summing up, I hope the Minister might carefully consider my amendment to the Health Bill on health and care integration—my hon. Friend might also look at that.

• 6 Jul 2026 · Patient Safety Review · Hansard source

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  I commend the hon. Gentleman for speaking so clearly about why having an independent HSSIB—independent of those providers—to investigate is so important. Time and again, we hear about devastating failings in the NHS. He alludes to maternity services, but we could add to the list infected blood and pelvic mesh. Does he agree that professionals and those working inside the NHS must be able to speak freely when things go wrong in order to learn lessons, and that that is only possible with an independent investigating organisation?