Charlotte Cane MP: speeches

Speeches

• 7 Sept 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree. The single patient record is so important to make the NHS work efficiently and effectively, and to help it treat patients better. To achieve that, patients have to trust that the data is being well protected, and I am afraid that a lot of the people I talk to, including GPs—who are obviously critical in convincing patients that Palantir is safe—do not trust it. We have to pull out of the contract with Palantir. Will the Minister please consider that, please consider the issues faced by rural areas, and please, please, please get us some NHS dentists in Ely and East Cambridgeshire?

• 7 Sept 2026 · Health Bill · Hansard source

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  In my constituency, only 40% of adults have seen a dentist in the past two years, and only 54% of children have seen one in the last year. The impact of that is that 12.5% of children in East Cambridgeshire have tooth decay by the age of five. We are in a dental desert, and it is incredibly difficult to get an NHS dentist appointment. When I talk to the dentists, the most frustrating thing is that it is the contract that prevents them from treating people, not their intentions. The contract is based on units of treatment. For example, dentists tell me that if they do one filling, they just about cover their cost for the unit they get paid for. That unit covers up to three fillings, however, and at three fillings they are making a loss. Even more frustrating is that they get allocated units at the beginning of the year. Once they have used them all, they can get no more; yet they are aware that other local dentists have not used all their units by the end of the year, and they hand them back. Why is there no mechanism whereby those units can be given to dentists who have the capacity to do more work, so that more people can be treated? It is really frustrating to know that my constituents are struggling without a dentist, and that there are dentists in my constituency who are willing to treat them but cannot get funding to do that from the NHS. It is utterly shocking. That is why I support new clause 18 and other amendments that seek to make dentistry more available to people.