Danny Chambers MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 20 Nov 2024 · Healthcare: Hampshire · Hansard source

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  any potential new hospital is decades away, while the hospital we have needs to be maintained and improved. The quickest way forward is to provide 160 new social care packages for Winchester hospital. Will the Minister meet me and the chief executive officer of Winchester hospital to work out how we can deliver those packages as quickly as possible, and provide good A&E, hospital and social care services for everyone in and around Winchester?

• 14 Nov 2024 · Respiratory Health · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for all his work on the APPG for respiratory health. As has been said, it is a hugely important issue, given the sheer number of people affected and killed every year and the huge amount of resources taken from the NHS. It was good to hear everyone talk about a holistic approach, because this issue is not purely about NHS services. Most people have discussed the importance of air quality and pollution, and the hon. Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) acknowledged that people living in poverty are more likely to suffer. I think they are five times more likely to die from COPD and about three times more likely to die from asthma. There are a whole variety of reasons for that, one being air pollution. In the village of Twyford near Winchester, one of our fantastic Lib Dem councillors has been campaigning for years to improve air quality and reduce pollution due to traffic. She is a former doctor, and one of her main motivations is to try to improve outcomes for asthma and children’s respiratory health. The Minister and I were in this Chamber about a week ago to discuss housing. It was acknowledged that the UK has the oldest housing stock in Europe, with a lot of it have been built before world war two. Again, the link between people living in poverty and living in substandard housing is very strong. I am probably not the only Member who receives correspondence from individuals in private housing association accommodation who struggle to get a response from organisations when they encounter problems such as mould. Living in substandard housing is bad not only for physical health, but for the environment and carbon dioxide emissions. Last week, we discussed a huge programme to try to improve the housing of people living in poverty, because it is good for the environment and for people’s health. We should remember that the NHS spends about £1.5 billion a year dealing directly with issues, such as damp and cold, that have arisen from people living in poor and substandard housing, so the comorbidities are huge. I am mindful talking about the clinical treatment of respiratory diseases when the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans), is actually a doctor and I am a rudimentary veterinary surgeon, but respiratory disease is a common disease that we treat in horses. By improving the surroundings they are in—by getting rid of dust and improving ventilation—we can get the huge majority of them off medication entirely. It is the same with groups of cattle, which are housed over the winter. Respiratory diseases have a huge impact on farmers’ productivity, but through a combination of improving accommodation, improving ventilation and vaccination, we can get fewer illnesses and better productivity. That would be more cost-effective for the farmer and we would use fewer antibiotics. It is exactly the same with public health. Treating people who have got sick because they live in substandard conditions is an endless task, but getting to the root cause of the problem will have huge knock-on effects throughout society. Vaccines in human and veterinary medicine are always the most cost-effective health intervention. They are better for patients and the taxpayer and, importantly, they help us to avoid using antibiotics unnecessarily. The World Health Organisation has noted that antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest health challenges facing the world right now. Interestingly, vaccine hesitancy is another, so we should monitor levels of vaccination uptake, because the tripledemic, as people call it, of flu, covid and respiratory syncytial virus affects people all year round, but especially in the winter. Slightly concerningly, it seems that 280,000 fewer NHS staff have been vaccinated this year compared with 2019, even though there are now slightly more frontline staff. Will the Minister explore why that is the case? Is it due to concerns about the vaccination or a lack of access to it? For example, I want to get vaccinated, but I just have not had the time yet this year, and that could be the problem for many people. Vaccinating pregnant women against RSV is a hugely important intervention that helps to prevent babies under six months old from getting really sick. Most people just get a cold from RSV, but tens of thousands of babies every year are admitted to hospital with it, and it can be hugely damaging in the long run. I have touched on holistic approaches to respiratory disease, but it is worth looking at other health conditions. The hon. Member for Strangford mentioned the work on smoking cessation, which is hugely important, but it is also worth noting the work on obesity. If a person is obese, any underlying respiratory issues are much more difficult to manage and treat, and the symptoms can often be exacerbated. We need to focus on public health interventions such as improving the quality of our food, including free school meals. I hope that, given the financial constraints the NHS is currently working under, we do not view public health as a cost to be cut, because in the long run we desperately need to invest in it to stop people getting sick and ending up in hospital. We will not prevent every disease, no matter how hard we try. People will still get sick for a whole variety of reasons, including with COPD, asthma and lung cancer, and they will need long-term management. In our manifesto, we called for people with long-term conditions to be able to see a named GP so that they get continuity of care from someone who is very familiar with their case. Seeing someone different every time causes patients a lot of stress and sometimes results in miscommunication. We discussed air pollution earlier. During the general election, we called for a new clean air Act, based on World Health Organisation recommendations and ideally enforced by a clean air agency. Will the Minister look seriously at that proposal, and consider other suggestions about working hard on local pollution levels, working to improve vaccination rates and housing standards, and working to ensure that anyone diagnosed with any type of cancer, but particularly lung cancer, sees a consultant within 62 days of being referred?

• 14 Nov 2024 · Respiratory Health · Hansard source

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  Yes, I will. I live off tea—it is the only way I get through the day—and I have a particular interest in air quality, so it could be a really enjoyable meeting. As this debate is not going on for as long as the hon. Member for Strangford would like, he could come and speak with us as well. As I was saying, a clean air Act and a named doctor are among our proposals. We are heading into winter, which NHS staff must dread: it is always busier than other periods, and a whole load of respiratory issues add to the winter pressures on the NHS. I thank and pay tribute to all the NHS workers who are heading into this very difficult time. We must do whatever we can to support them, whether that is helping them to get their vaccinations or helping them in any other way.

• 13 Nov 2024 · Rural Broadband · Hansard source

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  This issue has a real impact on rural farming businesses. As a vet I spend a lot of time driving around the Meon valley and places such as Chilcomb, where not only is the broadband terrible, but a mobile signal and 3G, 4G and 5G barely exist. It is not unusual for me to be trying to find a property at midnight to attend an emergency—which can affect someone’s business if it results in the death of a cow or horse—and be unable even to make a phone call or look on Google Maps to find my location. We lack not just broadband, but connectivity on every level. If we can get a landline to every single property in the UK, we should be able to do the same for fibre.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Fuel Poverty · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Sir Roger, for calling me to speak. I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) for securing this debate at this crucial time as we head into winter. Last week, I spoke in the debate on NHS winter preparedness. We know that our A&E departments, doctors and other health services are particularly busy in winter. People living in fuel poverty end up contributing to that, because if you are elderly, vulnerable or ill and you cannot afford to turn on your heating, you are more likely to suffer complications, get sick with flu or covid or be admitted to hospital with hypothermia. The NHS spends about £1.4 billion every year to deal with the consequences of people living in cold or damp homes. It is worth noting that this is about the impact not just on an individual’s finances, but on the resources of the health services.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Fuel Poverty · Hansard source

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  That is a good point. Citizens Advice Winchester told me that it spends a huge proportion of its time dealing with people who have issues with energy bills, particularly at the moment. A variety of organisations are being drawn into this. The hon. Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) mentioned housing quality. It is worth noting that the UK has the oldest housing stock in Europe: 38% of houses in the UK were built before the 1940s, compared with about 11% in Spain. Those houses were obviously not designed with particularly high energy standards. One thing the Liberal Democrats were calling for during the general election was an emergency home energy upgrade programme for people who are living in poverty, people in social housing and people who cannot afford their bills. Retrofitting insulation is good not only for people who are struggling and the NHS, but for the environment. We urge the Government to double down on retrofitting and improving the quality of our old housing. Directly linked to that issue are buildings’ energy efficiency standards, which were reduced under the last Government. New builds should be net zero; they should be hugely energy-efficient. There is no excuse for any new house to have occupants who live in fuel poverty, and we should do everything we can to ensure that that does not happen. I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere, and I represent a large area of the Meon valley, which is very rural. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland pointed out, many rural villages, farms and houses rely on solid fuel heating—they are not on the gas grid—and have to have electrical storage heaters. That is hugely expensive. Rural areas also have a slightly higher proportion of elderly people. I have had a huge amount of correspondence from people living in rural areas and elderly people who are particularly worried about the coming winter. I heard from someone called Julia, who has osteoarthritis and osteopenia and has to walk with crutches. She is on a waiting list to be transferred to more affordable accommodation. She often has to skip meals to make ends meet and she dreads turning on the heating because of the cost. With poor circulation, she frequently loses feeling in her feet from the cold. I acknowledge what the hon. Member for Shipley said: not all elderly people rely on the winter fuel allowance to heat their homes—we know that—but because the removal has been brought in so quickly, right before winter, a lot of elderly people were not expecting it and will be plunged into crisis. Julia emailed me with a clear ask for the Minister: if the Government are removing the winter fuel payment, will they consider expanding qualifying benefits to include housing benefit, council tax support, disability benefits and attendance allowance? That would be a lifeline for her and many others who face similar hardship.

• 30 Oct 2024 · NHS Winter Readiness · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) for securing this timely debate. In Winchester, the NHS is the No. 1 issue for nearly everyone, and it will be the same for the rest of the country. Patients and staff are aware that we have a huge challenge every winter. Hospital managers and chief executive officers must be so frustrated that they have to face that challenge every year. From what I understand, having spoken to quite a few hospital managers and CEOs of hospital trusts, over the last few years, at about autumn time, they have applied for extra funding to deal with what will be a winter crisis, and by about November they have heard whether they will receive it and how much they will get. They have then received the money by about January, when we are already halfway through the winter, despite the fact that winter comes every year and we know that there will be a winter strain on the NHS. In the spirit of constructive opposition, I will talk about four issues that we should consider when it comes to future winter challenges. The first, as has been mentioned by nearly everyone, is social care. In the Hampshire hospitals foundation trust, there are between 160 and 200 people at any given time who are well enough to go home but do not have anywhere to go, often because of the lack of social care packages. We have talked about the flow through hospitals; if A&E cannot take patients into hospitals because the beds are occupied, ambulances end up queuing outside hospitals, and the knock-on effect is a huge delay in ambulance response times. My hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) mentioned that one in four people now worry about calling an ambulance over the winter because they are worried that it will be a long time until it arrives. The frustrating thing is that providing social care packages is more cost-effective than keeping someone in a hospital bed, so while not having social care packages in place so that people can be moved out of hospital in a timely way is not good for patients, it is not even cost-effective for the taxpayer. Nearly every speaker has brought up primary care: everything from doctors and dentists to mental health and public health. Some 22% of the people who arrive at a typical A&E are there because they cannot get a GP appointment. People are turning up with tooth root abscesses, and often end up needing general anaesthetic to sort out dental problems that could have been avoided had they been able to get an NHS dentist. Desperate mental health patients, who are often already on a waiting list, walking into A&E take up a huge amount—up to 30%—of an A&E department’s time and resources. People wait years after being referred for mental health care by their GP and then end up in A&E, taking up time and resources during the winter crisis. That is not a good use of taxpayers’ money, it is not good for the patients, and it is hugely stressful for the staff. It is always more cost-effective to keep people healthy in their community and treat them early than to treat them in A&E. It is not the place for people in a mental health crisis, people with severe dental issues, or people who just cannot get a GP appointment. My hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire mentioned vaccination and when we talk about public health, we talk about prevention and cost-effectiveness. Vaccines are the single most cost-effective health intervention that has ever been developed throughout the world for pretty much any disease, but it is concerning to hear that the number of NHS staff being vaccinated is dropping. That is dangerous both for their health and for patients’ health. We should certainly examine and unpick that, and try to explore why the number of NHS staff taking the flu vaccine has gone down. We need to engage with them to give them the confidence to take the vaccines as well as access to them to ensure that we have as high a vaccination rate as possible. My hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire also mentioned this, and we need to act in our communities because of flu, covid and RSV. The situation is always worse in winter. We know that it will be worse and the risk of immunocompromised people turning up to a hospital and waiting in an A&E department, surrounded by other patients who are infectious because they have not managed to get a vaccine, is a huge issue. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) talked about pharmacies and community care, which are a huge part of the jigsaw in making vaccinations available to the general public. Local pharmacies need all the support that we can give them to ensure that they are open at convenient times—and that they stay open, because a lot of pharmacies have closed. Ideally people—especially vulnerable people—should be very close to a pharmacy so they can get the vaccinations that they need. Finally, every other Liberal Democrat Members who spoke today talked about the Liberal Democrat winter taskforce and how we would really appreciate the Government looking into our proposals seriously. We are spending the money in bit-pieces every winter anyway, so we should have a much more joined-up and long-term plan about how we deliver healthcare over the winter and ease the pressure on our hospitals. That would be hugely beneficial. I pay tribute to NHS staff. I imagine that they dread winter coming. This is the time of year when they will be bracing themselves, knowing that they will be busier, knowing that they will be working without the right resources and knowing that some of them will get sick with flu, covid and all the other diseases that come in. We thank them for putting their health at risk and for putting in their time and expertise to look after our health. As the Liberal Democrat mental health spokesperson, I acknowledge what a drain it must be on their mental health to work in such situations. Finally, I have a question for the Government. We know that winter will come every year; it will come next year as well. What are we doing to ensure that we do not have a planned crisis in the NHS next winter?

• 30 Oct 2024 · NHS Winter Readiness · Hansard source

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  There has been no mention of increasing social care packages. Today, I spoke to the CEO of Hampshire hospitals trust, which runs Winchester hospital, and she said the single biggest thing that would make a difference over winter for that hospital, and probably every other one in the country, would be increasing the number of social care packages and ensuring that those well enough to leave hospital can be treated and cared for elsewhere. Why is that not the main focus of the winter measures that the Minister is talking about?

• 29 Oct 2024 · IPP Sentences · Hansard source

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  Thank you for calling me to speak, Ms Vaz. I also thank the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) for securing this debate on a hugely important subject. As the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for mental health, I will start with a story that illustrates the issues that many have been touching on about people not knowing when their release date is going to be and how it can affect mental health. Many Members will have heard of Tommy Nicol. He is a tragic illustration of what can happen when the mental health needs of IPP prisoners go unmet. Tommy was sentenced to four years for robbery, but he served six years without hope of release. The Parole Board then recommended that Tommy complete a course of therapy, but there were no services available. When he subsequently moved prisons to access better services, he self-harmed and set fire to his cell. That then landed him in isolation, where he became psychotic and inflicted more self-harm. Just three days after being moved into isolation, he tragically took his own life. Despite the clear warnings that Tommy was psychiatrically unwell, no mental health assessment was ever carried out and there was zero mental health support during his time in isolation. The consultant forensic psychiatrist who gave evidence at the inquest said that the IPP sentence had contributed to Tommy’s death, as he had completely lost hope. Tommy had made a complaint a few years previously that his lack of a certain release date was the “psychological torture of a person who is doing 99 years”. We know that individuals serving IPP sentences often end up extremely unwell, with high rates of suicide and self-harm. It is hard to imagine being locked behind bars for maybe 22 hours a day without hope of release. Most of us here seem to agree with Tommy that that amounts to psychological torture. Today we are focusing on the critical issue of IPP sentences, but to understand the impact they are having, it is worth considering them in the broader context of the state of our prisons. HMP Winchester in my constituency serves as a stark example of the ongoing crisis. Just last week, it was placed under the urgent notification process following an inspection by HM inspectorate of prisons. The findings paint a troubled picture: the years of underinvestment have left lasting physical and psychological impacts on both prisoners and staff. Resources for rehabilitation and education are severely lacking. That only perpetuates the high reoffending rates, which are bad for the prisoners and costs taxpayers even more in the long run. If rehabilitation is the fundamental purpose of prison, how can we expect individuals to reform when faced with conditions like those reported last week in HMP Winchester? Consider these distressing statistics: 47% of prisoners report easy access to drugs; 41% return positive results on random drug tests; many are sleeping in cramped and dirty cells; self-harm and suicide have become normalised and prisoners spend up to 21.5 hours each day confined to their cells, with only 2.5 hours outside. Those conditions, marked by violence, isolation and pervasive drug use, paint a bleak reality that makes rehabilitation nearly impossible. Individuals serving IPP sentences are suffering immensely, with mental health issues running high and suicide and self-harm rates elevated. IPP prisoners are two and a half times more likely to self-harm than those serving other types of sentences, and we know that prisoners in general are more likely to self-harm than the general population. Despite that, the recent independent sentencing review excludes IPP sentences entirely. It is profoundly unjust that some individuals with lesser offences are stuck in IPP limbo, while others who committed more serious crimes are being released early under the Government’s current policy. Reforming IPP sentences could alleviate prison overcrowding, improve mental health outcomes and enhance safety, yet those reforms remain absent. The Lib Dems urge the Government to establish an expert committee to advise on how we can swiftly resentence individuals still serving IPP terms. Addressing the crisis in our prisons, at HMP Winchester and all the others, is essential. We must right the wrongs of IPP sentencing. If our goal is rehabilitation, we should be providing the resources and the conditions necessary for these individuals to re-enter society as productive citizens, not leaving them scarred by indefinite incarceration. The Secretary of State has assured us that the independent sentencing review imposes no constraints, and yet a glaring oversight persists: the exclusion of IPP sentences. Nearly 3,000 individuals remain incarcerated without a defined release date, some for lesser offences than those who have recently been released under the current policy. Reforming these sentences is not only a step towards justice, but a practical partial solution to overcrowding. As mental health spokesperson, I am particularly concerned about the deterioration of IPP prisoners’ mental health. As the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green mentioned, we are worried about how that may affect any subsequent parole hearings. We ask the Government why they have chosen to exclude IPP sentences from the review, and whether that that decision will be reconsidered.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker, but I withdraw my question.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Ministerial Standards · Hansard source

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  As a veterinary surgeon, I am expected to maintain the highest professional and behavioural standards at all times, as are those in many other regulated professions such as doctors and teachers, and if I fail to meet those standards I face the very real prospect of being struck off. Given the behaviour of previous Ministers and even a Prime Minister, does the Minister agree that, if we enshrined the ministerial code in law, that would restore trust in politics and ensure that people who lie and break the rules face very real consequences?

• 24 Oct 2024 · Ministerial Standards · Hansard source

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  8. What steps he is taking to ensure high ministerial standards in government.

• 23 Oct 2024 · Water Companies: Regulation and Financial Stability · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman makes a very important point: it is not simply pollution, but the over-extraction of those environments that is horrendously damaging to chalk streams. The Liberal Democrats have long been calling for reform to water companies so that they have environmental experts on their boards to ensure they meet their minimum environmental standards before they are allowed to make profits. Putting social and environmental good at the heart of what they do is absolutely necessary to ensure that we are not still talking about how we are struggling with pollution, leaks and a lack of investment in 30 years’ time. Thank you for calling me to speak in this debate, Mr Pritchard. Protecting our natural environment is one of the top priorities for probably all our constituents.

• 23 Oct 2024 · Water Companies: Regulation and Financial Stability · Hansard source

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  On the water-stress levels in Southern Water—our constituencies share the same water provider—it is worth acknowledging that a fifth of water is lost to leaks. We have just heard that Southern Water is in discussions with a company in Norway potentially to provide water to be tanked over here from Norwegian fjords to deal with future droughts and water shortages. Over a long period, that is an absolute failure to plan, to invest in infrastructure and to provide reservoirs such as the one we are speaking about. It is clearly a failure of regulation as well.

• 23 Oct 2024 · Water Companies: Regulation and Financial Stability · Hansard source

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  We have talked about how disgusting, and what a public health issue it is to have sewage and other pollution pouring into our rivers, but I want to touch on the ecological damage. In Winchester, a chalk stream, the River Itchen, goes right through the heart of the city. Chalk streams are very rare, with fewer than 210 of them in the entire world, and 85% of them are in southern England. Many of them are designated sites of special scientific interest because their ecosystems and biodiversity are unique. I found out recently that the type of Atlantic salmon found in southern chalk streams are genetically distinct from Atlantic salmon in the rest of the world. Chalk streams have taken millions of years to form, and they can be destroyed in just a few decades by companies that are either breaking the law or working within the law but, because there is such a lack of regulation, causing great environmental damage. That is bad for public health, consumers, prices and the environment. In my constituency, it is frustratingly clear that Southern Water, which is 82% owned by an Australian investment firm, has been prioritising profit over pollution prevention. It is that simple.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  In last week’s maternity services debate, we heard of the devastating impact of the removal of consultant-led maternity services from hospitals. Under the previous Government’s unfunded new hospitals programme, there were proposals to remove consultant-led maternity services from our hospital in Winchester. Can the Prime Minister reassure me and my constituents that, under the new Government, consultant-led maternity and A&E services will remain in Winchester, and will he commit to funding properly the backlog of maintenance issues that has developed in our hospital?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 16 October.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Access to Primary Healthcare · Hansard source

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  Will my hon. Friend give way?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Access to Primary Healthcare · Hansard source

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  Every Member who has spoken, from whichever side of the House, has spoken eloquently about their constituents’ difficulties accessing primary care. As the Lib Dem mental health spokesperson, I want to focus on some potential initiatives that will help solve those problems. There is a really good initiative in Winchester that recognises the many socioeconomic problems that contribute to poor mental health. The poorest 20% of people are twice as likely as people on an average salary to experience mental health issues. So in that fantastic initiative, local NHS mental health services are working with Winchester Citizens Advice to help people with mental health issues deal with troubles like debt, monetary issues and housing issues. It is saving a huge amount of NHS resources. Analysis showed that for every £1 spent on the initiative avoided about £40.06 in costs, and people were less likely to have to engage with mental health services again. I would be really keen for the mental health team, if they are willing to do so, to meet me and the team in Winchester that has come up with this initiative, because it really could be rolled out over the rest of the country. When we discuss community mental health, we often talk about community mental health hubs, for which the Liberal Democrats have been calling for a long time, so that we can proactively engage with people at risk of mental health issues. We know what those demographics are. We target physical health screenings at the demographics that are likely to suffer from those diseases, and it is the same with mental health. We know that military veterans and their families, women one year after giving birth, the LGBT+ community and other demographics are at a higher risk of experiencing mental health issues, and we could be engaging with these people much more proactively through community mental health hubs to ensure that they do not end up needing to access primary healthcare. Finally, although this relates to secondary care, we must acknowledge the long waiting lists for those who go to their GP and are referred for mental health treatment, because they are huge and people can wait for months or for over a year. In that time, people can end up going to A&E, which takes a lot of time and resources, and costs the taxpayer a lot of money. GPs in Winchester tell me that they spend a huge amount of their time dealing with people already on waiting lists for referral who have come back again because they need help in the meantime, so that would really help free up primary care.

• 10 Oct 2024 · Mental Health Support · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Dowd, for calling me to speak. As a veterinary surgeon, I come from a profession that has a suicide rate four times the national average. Like many people in this Chamber, I have experienced the pain of losing friends and colleagues to suicide. That led me to become a trustee of a mental health charity for several years, and I am honoured to be the spokesperson on mental health for the Liberal Democrats. Although we have undoubtedly focused on NHS clinical services in this debate, we often underestimate the profound impact that non-medical issues, such as living in poverty, financial worries, debt and insecure housing, can have on mental health and how they can hinder people’s recovery from a mental health crisis. I am incredibly proud of a project that I visited just last week in my constituency of Winchester that is run by Melbury Lodge mental health hospital and the citizens advice bureau in Westminster. This project provides one-to-one advice and support to in-patients on matters relating to living in the community, from relationship and financial advice to management of debt and benefits and housing problems. Someone who ends up being admitted to a mental health unit will find that their post—correspondence relating to their benefits, mortgages and other bills—all goes to their home address, and if nobody else lives there, they will not receive any of it. When they are discharged, they may get out and find that there is a problem with their benefits, or that they have received a huge bill that they were not expecting. Amazingly, the Melbury Lodge and Citizens Advice team have demonstrated that for every £1 spent on this project, the NHS system avoids spending on average £14.06, which is a huge return on investment. As we extrapolate out, the research shows that having the Citizens Advice service on site means that Melbury Lodge has avoided spending nearly a quarter of a million pounds. This cost avoidance is achieved through shorter in-patient stays, fewer readmissions, reduced medication and better engagement with community services. That is a staggering amount of money that can now be spent directly on clinical care. I urge the Government to look at the results of this initiative with a view to rolling it out in other parts of the country, because it is good for patients, good for NHS staff and good for the taxpayer. I am really excited that this project has been shortlisted for an NHS parliamentary award next week, and I look forward to supporting the team in person. We need to acknowledge the impact that the lack of mental healthcare has on other public services. When I go out with the police in Winchester, they tell me that they spend between 40% and 50% of their time dealing with mental health issues in some capacity. The hon. Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) mentioned the cost when people in a mental health crisis, who are often already on a mental health waiting list, arrive at accident and emergency departments. One of the biggest issues raised with me by parents in Winchester is the huge delay for children who are waiting for diagnoses of ADHD and autism. The hon. Member for Ashford (Sojan Joseph) has already mentioned that the Darzi report acknowledged that 20% of the NHS disease burden is due to mental health issues.

• 10 Oct 2024 · Mental Health Support · Hansard source

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  That is a good and important point. We also need to acknowledge that people with certain issues—neurodiversity, undiagnosed ADHD or autism—who do not get the support they need are more likely to develop mental health issues as a result. It is a bit of a chicken-and egg-situation. Finally, as I was saying, only 10% of the NHS budget is for mental health, but it is 20% of the disease burden. The obvious question people ask is: how do we afford that? When I look at the pressure on the police, A&E and the education system, the question I would ask is: how can we afford not to treat mental health properly?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Maternity Services: Gloucestershire · Hansard source

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  One of the biggest problems that has come up time and again in every maternity inquiry is that women are not being listened to, and too many times their concerns about their care are dismissed. That really needs to change, so we need to start prioritising the voices and experiences of women if we are serious about fixing this crisis. I said earlier that I am the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on mental health, and I need to mention the shocking statistic that suicide is now the leading cause of death for women between six weeks and 12 months after they have given birth. World Mental Health Day 2024 is tomorrow and it is heartbreaking to think how many new mothers must be really suffering without the support they need. We need to recognise the financial impact of this crisis. The NHS faces a £21 billion maternity negligence care bill—money that should be going into providing maternity care. When the negligence payout is three times the actual funding for the care, the system absolutely needs resources to be poured into it to ensure that we get that bill down and instead use the money to deliver safe and effective care. In Winchester, people are particularly concerned about proposals to downgrade our consultant-led maternity services to a service that does not have consultants and surgeons on site. Unlike the hon. Member for Stroud (Dr Opher), who is a doctor, I am a vet, so I do not have his experience. However, I have done countless emergency caesareans, so I know that when something starts going wrong in childbirth, especially halfway through a birth, timing is everything. The thought of starting to give birth in Winchester but then having complications and having to be transferred up to Basingstoke is understandably concerning and terrifying for many constituents. We are therefore fighting to keep consultant-led maternity services in Winchester, because the problem in Gloucestershire arose partly because of the downgrading of services and the move to other hospitals. The safety of maternity services is a concern nationwide, including in the Hampshire hospitals NHS foundation trust area. In 2023, the Care Quality Commission downgraded the trust’s maternity services from good to requires improvement after it found serious safety concerns. The trust’s amazing staff have been working really hard to improve things, and I am pleased to report that the trust exited the maternity safety support programme in July this year. However, there is still a long road ahead to restore public trust in these vital services. I want to acknowledge the brilliant work of a Winchester resident who is here today. Jo Cruse launched the Delivering Better campaign, and I urge everyone here today, who will obviously have a particular interest in maternity services, to engage with and learn more from it. Jo has shared her story with me, and with her permission I will read it out: “My daughter’s birth in October 2021 was the most terrifying experience of my life. I entered motherhood injured by a series of poor clinical decisions, and deeply traumatised by a three-day labour during which my calls for help and pain relief were repeatedly ignored or dismissed. The experience eroded my trust in a healthcare system I have always revered, pushed my marriage to the brink, stripped me of my dignity, led me to develop suspected PTSD and many months of painful recovery. It has had a significant impact on how I feel about whether I will have more children. I cannot overstate how far the shockwaves of that experience have extended in my life. I live with the knowledge that what happened to me was not only avoidable, but is happening every day in maternity wards across the country. This is not an issue localised to a few ailing trusts. This is a public health crisis being allowed to unfold in plain sight.”

• 9 Oct 2024 · Maternity Services: Gloucestershire · Hansard source

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  As the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on mental health, I believe we should acknowledge and pay tribute to NHS staff in general and specifically midwives because we know that one factor that causes stress is overwork. We are also aware that the NHS very much runs on good will—people working extra hours and unpaid hours. That has been the norm for many years, but it is not sustainable. We need to acknowledge the support they need from a mental health point of view.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Chalk Streams: Sewage Discharge · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way?

• 8 Oct 2024 · Chalk Streams: Sewage Discharge · Hansard source

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  On the earlier point about nature restoration around chalk streams, in Winchester we have the River Itchen going right through the heart of the city. A lot of farming clusters around the edge are looking at protecting nature on the side of the chalk streams. One specific issue we have is flea and worm treatments that are used to treat parasites in cats and dogs. They are overprescribed—they are used within routine health plans, which is not really necessary—and they contain neonicotinoids which can contaminate the chalk streams and damage the ecosystems and the insects that live in them. Would the Minister look at how we can put pressure on the veterinary industry to allow vets to make clinical decisions on whether treatment is needed rather than customers having a blanket treatment every month, whether it is needed or not?