Karin Smyth MP: speeches

Speeches

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I agree that this issue absolutely needs to be resolved. There was agreement previously, under the coalition, and it is so disappointing that it was so unceremoniously dumped when I came to this place in 2015; that was one of the first things that the subsequent Tory Government did. It was a great disappointment to many people across the country, particularly those who were responsible for supporting an older person or a disabled person. We have ensured that we will address this issue, and have appointed Louise Casey to lead the interim report. I know that she will continue to work with everybody, and that all hon. Members will take an active interest in that work.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend has been such a strong advocate for Watford since he came into this Chamber, and in particular for ensuring that that hospital is in the new hospital programme. I look forward to visiting his constituency soon, because I know we lost some time. My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I do not know if he knows this, but others will have heard me say before that one of the terrible consequences of the Lansley reforms was that they made me so angry as a manager in the system that I decided to become a Member of Parliament, and here we are today. We have learned from the lack of focus on the frontline and on patient care. That is why we are so clear—whether in the reforms we have put forward on elective care and urgent emergency care, or in the planned reforms on dentistry and primary care, in the 10-year plan and on social care—that we have to keep a relentless focus not just on taxpayers’ money, but on patients. The people’s priorities are clear. They want the NHS to do better, but they are clear in their demands that we make it work better for them and make sure that every single pound of taxpayers’ money is working to the best effect.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for welcoming the extra support for GP and primary care. I am sure he understands from our urgent and emergency care plan that we have a number of arrangements for making sure that people are seen urgently in local community settings. It is for local ICBs to decide on the best way, within that urgent emergency care plan, for people to be seen locally and treated within the available resources. I am happy to meet him, perhaps at an upcoming surgery, to discuss that further.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman says that we have been here before, and we really have. I was on a primary care trust board under the last Labour Government, so I saw at first hand what good government, working with local systems, can deliver: the best patient satisfaction in the NHS’s history, the lowest waiting lists, and the best access to GP and primary care. We have been here before, and that is what we will do again. From the hon. Gentleman’s questions, I do not understand whether he wants more spending or less. That is what the Conservative party is still not saying; its Members stand up and ask for more, like Liberal Democrat Members, but they will not identify the means of raising that money—in fact, they oppose them. To respond to the specific question that the hon. Gentleman asked, over the coming weeks, my colleagues from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will obviously be outlining in more detail how the spending review will fall out.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes an excellent point on mental health, which is of great concern to all Members. He is right that elective care and mental health are measured in different ways, but we are committed to supporting mental health services with 8,500 extra staff. We are making sure in particular that young people in schools are supported. We know that the situation has been terrible for young people in our country, and we will continue to provide that relentless focus.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend has been such a strong and powerful campaigner for women’s health since becoming an MP last year, and she is absolutely right to do that. I am pleased that we have been able to make some progress on conditions such as endometriosis. Many campaigns have been fought by many women in this House—including you, Madam Deputy Speaker, if I may say so—to highlight the importance of this issue. We see women’s health as front and centre. We want to learn from the women’s health hubs in their different guises and ensure that they are an integral part of neighbourhood health services.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is an experienced parliamentarian, and he understands how the funding settlement for the Department of Health and Social Care is allocated through the Barnett formula to Northern Ireland.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to raise the issue of ambulances. We ensured that they were a key part of our urgent and emergency care plan, which was issued the week before last, I think—I cannot remember the exact date. We recognise how crucial that issue is, and how much more can be done by ambulances by the roadside. I was privileged to go out with the South Western ambulance service recently; it is so impressive to spend time on the frontline with people who are dealing with whatever comes at them. We know that they can do more, including remotely. We are very keen to ensure that ambulances do not spend time outside hospitals; that is why we have introduced a 45-minute turnaround time through the release to rescue scheme, which has worked very successfully in many parts of the country. We are keen to see that scheme rolled out across the country, so that we do not have ambulances queuing outside of hospitals with people, but put them back on the road where they need to be.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I have a slight “get out of jail free” card, because I think that letter might be with one of my colleagues, not with me. Obviously, though, I look forward to the summary. The hon. Gentleman makes a really important point about cancer. I would have to check, but I do not think I mentioned lots of disease-specific areas, including key manifesto commitments such as dentistry. Obviously, cancer is a huge part of waiting lists overall. We will get those waiting lists down—we are determined to meet that target—and we will issue a cancer plan later in the year.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I have already given a history lesson about some of those 14 years. When the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats were in the coalition together, we had a commitment, a promise and a cross-party agreement; the Conservatives then got into government by themselves and broke it, so we are where we are. We want to invest in social care, which is why we have announced the £4 billion. We are seeing a very interesting alliance going on between our Green and Conservative colleagues; they agree on something, as we saw in the Lobby last week.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I am entirely unclear, after that run-through of a number of different issues, whether the Conservatives welcome the extra investment in the NHS or oppose it. We know they oppose the means of funding it, but after that, I have no idea. At some point, they have to make up their mind whether they support that extra investment or not. As I said in my statement, if they do not, what out of the list of the improvements that we have already made would they not do? As Lord Darzi made clear, under the Conservatives’ watch for 14 years the NHS was broken. Staff were left with out-of-date equipment and unable to do the job they needed to do. We agreed with Lord Darzi’s diagnosis, but Conservative Members have still not said whether they agree with it, or apologised for the state they left the system in. I do not know whether the right hon. Member for Melton and Syston (Edward Argar) has not been able to read the elective reform plan or the urgent emergency care plan that we published recently. It is up to him to read those plans properly and try to understand what is happening. The right hon. Gentleman has started to do my job for me again, because he cites various think-tanks and people who have said that this cannot be done. Well, I can tell him that we were told, for example, that waiting lists would not drop in April because of seasonality, but we have shown—by keeping a relentless focus on the system, working closely with leaders on the frontline and being clear with officials in the Department—that it can be done. That is what we heard this morning. We are taking a relentless approach to spending, line by line, throughout the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care. We have rolled up our sleeves and we will not accept putting more and more taxpayers’ money into a leaky system, which is what happened under the right hon. Gentleman’s Government. If he had read the patient satisfaction survey, he would know that taxpayers across the country, in all our constituencies, love the NHS. They understand that the Tory party broke it and that it will take long time to fix. They also know that they are paying more taxes for it and getting a worse service, and they expect us to do much better. That is what we have already shown we are doing, and what we will continue to do. I have outlined the capital that is going into the new hospital programme, which we are committed to, and we have already seen increases in diagnostic capability and surgical hubs throughout our constituencies. We will continue to do more of that. I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that it is critical to ensure that social care is supported alongside the NHS. That is why £4 billion is going into social care through our colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and as he knows, Louise Casey will publish her interim report next year. We are clear that fiscal responsibility does not stop at the Treasury or down in Victoria Street with the Department of Health and Social Care. It is important that everybody in the NHS is aware that we are determined to fix the NHS and put it back on a sustained footing. There is record investment; that is our commitment to people, and I know from the people I worked with in the health service over many years that they are determined to make it better. Morale sank to an all-time low under the Conservative party, but we are raising that morale, and we will continue to work with the system to make sure that it is fit for the future.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that this is unacceptable. I was pleased to meet him and his local NHS leaders this week. They made, as hon. Members always do, an excellent case. Clearly, the situation was left badly under his Government. I hope that he will welcome the extra measures in this settlement. I know that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House told him earlier that she looks forward to him joining us in the Division Lobby to support the extra funding. I hope that hon. Members know that, whatever party they come from, when I meet them, particularly in surgeries, I will follow up on the questions that are asked. They are often matters for the local integrated care board, but we will continue to work with all local systems to deliver the best care possible for all our constituents.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for the great work that he is doing to support progress on work at the RAAC hospitals in his constituency. He makes the excellent point that such issues exist not only in hospitals. As our settlement makes clear, we understand the strain in primary care, as well as in mental health services and community services, which often do not get discussed. When we publish the 10-year plan later in the summer, he will see that the move towards community and neighbourhood health services will be front and centre of what we want to achieve over the next 10 years.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. His invitation has been a long-running one, and sometimes his diary has been busier than mine, but I think we finally have a date to go to North Devon, which I am looking forward to. It is a challenged system—we had a good debate yesterday in Westminster Hall about many of the problems in Devon, and I know he will review that debate carefully. Devon is one of the systems that we are looking closely at. It has had deficit funding this year, but we want to eradicate deficit funding from the system, so we are looking very closely at how every single system uses all of its money. I know that the hon. Gentleman will continue to support the Government in ensuring that his local taxpayers get the best service for their money.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  The economics of the Green party are even more fantastical than the economics of the Conservatives and Reform; we all dread to think what things might be like under that party. We see that in the local council in my city of Bristol, and it is an absolute disaster. If the council could just get on with building council houses and social homes, it would help more people to live a better life, and would aid prevention. We are getting on with tackling social care. That was announced in the spending review, and that is what the Casey review will do.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his support for the Chancellor’s statement and our commitment to the NHS. I know he has been working so hard on this issue on behalf of RAAC hospitals and Frimley Park hospital since he became a Member of Parliament last year, and we are four-square behind that work getting on. It is at the beginning of a very long queue in the new hospital programme. It is one of the things we inherited—we wish it was a better inheritance, but we are working with what we have. We have put the new hospital programme on a firm financial footing, and Frimley Park is at the beginning of that queue. We are very keen that people get on with it very quickly, because there are very many other people waiting behind them.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I was expecting the right hon. Gentleman to talk about the funding model, and I am disappointed that he did not; it is something that he has talked about for many years. I do not know the details of the Australian model, but will ensure that he gets a proper answer. I am always happy, as is my right hon. Friend the Secretary the State, to look at models from across the world. We want to learn from the best, and we want to deliver the best in the NHS. The Conservatives seem to have an obsession with input into the health service. It is true that the last Government put more money in, but it went into a leaky bucket and they got nothing out. This Government have taken a different approach. We are not just taking money from the Treasury, handing it out and then coming back for more. We are being very clear with providers and the system more generally. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is talking at the NHS Confederation conference this afternoon; we are working with them to ensure that we look not just at the inputs, but at what goes on in the system. We want to ensure value for taxpayers’ money in all our constituencies. There are outstanding examples of both financial and operational good practice across the country. We want to take the best to the rest, and make the best of every taxpayer pound.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady is right to highlight the shocking state that dentistry was left in by the last Government. They could have reformed that contract at any time over the past 14 years. We were ready to do that in 2010, but things worked out differently; we left office, and the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives between them did not reform the contract. The Minister for Care is working at pace to ensure that happens, and we will update the House as soon as possible.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about bringing down waiting lists for his constituents, and we are so pleased to see that that is continuing, as we were able to announce this morning. He also makes an excellent point about social care providers, which do an amazing job for many of us who have close family members supported by them, and it is important that they are supported and work. I am not sure whether an answer to his question about a meeting needs to be from my Department or from my colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, but I will ensure that he has an answer.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her question and for the work she does to support NHS dentistry as part of the all-party group. As I have said, this issue is of huge importance to our constituents, and the shocking state in which the Conservatives left dentistry is there for all to see—particularly the shocking state of children’s oral health. That is why we acted rapidly to introduce the toothbrushing campaign—which, if I remember rightly, was ridiculed by Conservative Members when we discussed it in opposition—and the arrangement with Colgate to ensure that we improve children’s oral health. We are absolutely committed to reform of the contract; the Minister for Care is working hard on that and he will continue to update the House regularly. It is our confirmed commitment, as I have reiterated today, to increase access to dental services.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for welcoming, on behalf of his party, the commitment that the Chancellor has made and the extra funding that she has identified, but I think his party still opposes the way in which we have raised the funding to do just that. It is good to have your cake and eat it, but we are clear that the funding does come with reform. As I said in my statement, we are committed to improving the front door—primary care—as well as social care and discharge. That is why the NHS contribution, as part of the settlement to the better care fund, increases. He will be aware that we previously revised the better care fund to make it better and more targeted on discharge, which is important. The urgent and emergency care plan that we published a couple of weeks ago also confirms our recognition that flow through the hospital system is important for patients and staff; we must ensure that we do not face that continued crisis of corridor care over many years. We are committed to the fair pay agreement, and our colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will make more statements in the coming weeks about how that will work.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I always shudder a little when I am invited to do any running, jogging, boxing or whatever else people get up to—we all have our own things we like doing. Although my hon. Friend’s fabulous city is a great place to be, I will not be able to join in this weekend, but I wish good luck to everybody taking part. We all live in hope that the SNP might learn some lessons from what we are doing to fix our NHS. We remain willing to work with the SNP, and with anybody who wants to serve patients and get a better service for their taxes. If the SNP wants to get in touch, it can do so, but the best thing to do is to elect a Labour Government in Scotland, which will hopefully happen soon. My hon. Friend makes an important point about mental health. We are committed, as we said in our manifesto, to 8,500 more people working in mental health, and to ensure that our schools and young people have the support they deserve.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  I like how my hon. Friend says “gently”, because honestly no day goes past without him talking about this issue or, indeed, his new hospital. He is right, and he is a fantastic campaigner for the people of Harlow. He has made his point again, and I cannot make any further comment today, but he will be hearing from the Secretary of State soon on that issue.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  As my hon. Friend said, this is a health area that I know well, and he has been the most amazing campaigner for Gloucester and the health service there since he became the Member of Parliament. He is absolutely right: dentistry is a key worry. It is one of the key areas that the Conservative party neglected for 14 years. That is why it was a manifesto commitment, and why I was able to outline today that meeting the target of 700,000 is front and centre, and part of the plan as we go forward. I know that the Minister for Care, who is responsible for dentistry, is keen to meet many hon. Members, and I will make sure he has heard that request.

• 12 Jun 2025 · Spending Review: Health and Social Care · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to highlight end of life care. We know it has been neglected. I worked on it during my time in the health service, over 15 years ago, and I feel very passionately about it. It is important that we support people. We must have a system that allows people to have those conversations, and that ensures there are options for people throughout the pathway of their life. The Minister for Care is working hard to ensure that happens as part of our overall development of the health service over the next 10 years.