← Back to House of Commons Debates
NHS England Funding: Announcement to Media
25 October 2021
Lead MP
Edward Argar
Debate Type
Ministerial Statement
Tags
NHSEmployment
Other Contributors: 31
At a Glance
Edward Argar raised concerns about nhs england funding: announcement to media in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Government Statement
Mr Speaker, I hope that you will recognise that I seek to be assiduous in my accountability to this House and in adhering to its protocols and forms. We are determined to keep the country safe from COVID-19 while tackling the backlog it has brought with additional funding of £8 billion over three years, on top of an extra £2 billion for this year. A £5.9 billion package was announced to tackle NHS backlogs, including £1.5 billion for increased bed capacity and equipment, new surgical hubs for elective surgeries, 100 community diagnostic centres, and £2.1 billion investment in digital technology. This aims to deliver around 30% more elective activity by 2024-25 compared with pre-pandemic levels, supporting workforce strengthening efforts.
Daisy Cooper
Lib Dem
St Albans
Question
The announcement lacks details such as funding sources and its impact. Many hospitals await funds for renovation work, and there are 5.7 million people waiting for treatment with thousands at risk of early deaths due to delayed operations. Without trained staff, medical equipment could go unused.
Minister reply
The funding source will be revealed in the Budget on Wednesday. The number of diagnostic radiographers has increased by 33% since 2010 and continued investment is necessary to build the workforce further.
Question
Why do Members not receive copies of embargoed press releases that are sent to reporters?
Minister reply
I understand my hon. Friend's concerns about budget secrecy and will convey them to his friends in the Treasury.
Jon Ashworth
Lab
Denton and Reddish
Question
Asked the Minister about the capital budget for NHS hospitals, noting that it had been raided in previous years. He also questioned the adequacy of diagnostic centres and staffing levels.
Minister reply
Confirmed initial £3.7 billion allocated to 40 new hospital projects by 2030. Mentioned support for ongoing maintenance and RAAC plank hospitals with an additional £110 million. Also confirmed mental health facilities are included in the capital investment. Highlighted staff increases, particularly in specialisms like radiographers and radiologists.
John Redwood
Con
Wokingham
Question
Asked about how much money from pandemic spending would be available for NHS infrastructure.
Minister reply
Noted that most of the pandemic spending was one-off, but is exploring transitioning some test and trace capacity to support normal times.
Martyn Day
SNP
Linlithgow and East Falkirk
Question
Asked about Barnett consequentials for Scotland.
Minister reply
Announced details of Barnett consequentials will be set out on Wednesday.
Theresa Villiers
Con
Harborough
Question
Asked about improving the retention of NHS staff, particularly women in the workforce.
Minister reply
Stressed the need for flexibility and additional staffing to ease burdens. Emphasised that workforce recovery is crucial after pandemic.
Karin Smyth
Lab
Bristol South
Question
Asked about validation of waiting lists and clinical prioritization criteria.
Minister reply
Confirmed clinical prioritisation will be vital, involving conversations with royal colleges. Highlighted the need for clear communication with patients on decision-making processes.
Mark Harper
Con
Fittleworth
Question
Asked about the contract between NHS and resources provided by Parliament.
Minister reply
Agreed that it is a contract, emphasising the need for NHS to deliver against plans while being held accountable. Stressed the importance of reform and innovation.
Chris Bryant
Lab
Rhondda and Ogmore
Question
Expresses despair over the announcement's impact on reducing backlog, criticises insufficient staff and training, calls for measures to retain NHS workers such as addressing pension problems and offering bonuses.
Minister reply
Acknowledges concerns about workforce retention and recruitment, agrees to meet with Chris Bryant to discuss practical suggestions. Emphasises need for building resilient healthcare system through diagnostic capacity expansion.
Luke Evans
Con
Hinckley and Bosworth
Question
Asks if the announced funds will address administrative inefficiencies, such as chasing letters and appointments.
Minister reply
Confirms £2.1 billion allocated to digitize patient records and shared care records across all trusts.
Question
Highlights long-term shortage of clinical radiologists, calls for international recruitment drive as part of NHS infrastructure investment.
Minister reply
Acknowledges workforce increase since 2010 in clinical radiology by 48% and diagnostic radiographers by 33%.
Question
Commends NHS staff for their work but criticises calls for lockdowns, demands more restrictions despite recent investments.
Minister reply
Appreciates praise for NHS workers and commits to providing them with necessary resources while stimulating reform.
Diana R. Johnson
Lab
Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham
Question
Asks if the Government will consider a covenant akin to those introduced for police and armed forces, to protect NHS staff.
Minister reply
Considers the suggestion as an interesting idea.
Question
Requests plans for rational and budgeted increase in general practice capacity due to new housing developments.
Minister reply
Agrees that GP facilities need to follow housing development, ensuring local health systems can predict and plan accordingly.
Sarah Champion
Lab
Rotherham
Question
Highlights long wait times for mental health assessments in Rotherham and calls for increased parity between mental and physical healthcare funding.
Minister reply
Acknowledges the need for parity of esteem and highlights recent increases in mental health funding.
Question
Requests publication of the plan for NHS catch-up funds, as it is necessary to hold local trusts accountable.
Minister reply
Promises to publish the plan within coming weeks and invites scrutiny from Steve Brine.
Question
Asks if a new hospital will be announced soon for Stockton, given current expenditure at University Hospital of North Tees.
Minister reply
Acknowledges the need but cannot provide specific timelines beyond an announcement in spring next year.
Question
I warmly welcome this funding announcement. A few weeks ago, I visited the biochemistry department in Furness General Hospital. It is one of the best in the country, so I am glad that there is this focus on diagnostics capacity. Can the Minister confirm that funding will go to centres that already have capacity and the will to do more, rather than creating additional units that may draw it away from them?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend makes an interesting and important point. These will be new diagnostic hubs, but he alludes to a central point. For example, there could be a hub in the car park of an existing hospital where these services are delivered to allow it to deliver them in a covid-free environment, rather than having the same front door for A&E or similar. We are working through the exact detail of how these new hubs will be delivered, but we will be looking at how they can potentially fit with existing services.
Cat Smith
Lab
Lancaster and Wyre
Question
Capital investment in our hospital estate is desperately needed at Royal Lancaster Infirmary—an incredibly old hospital site, which comes with its challenges. Does the Minister agree that closing two hospitals—Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Royal Preston Hospital—to make one new hospital is not creating a new hospital but is in fact a net loss of one hospital? He has a letter on his desk from me asking for a meeting to discuss the future of the hospital site at Royal Lancaster Infirmary. Does he agree that my constituents in Lancaster, which is a growing city, need to have a hospital that they can access?
Minister reply
The hon. Lady will know that, while her local clinical commissioning group—her local health system—may well be considering various options, it has not put any particular option forward to me in that context. I look forward to seeing her letter, but I am certainly happy to meet her if that pre-empts my reply.
Question
My constituents in Peterborough will be thrilled with the £5.9 billion to clear the backlog and the extra cash for diagnostic services, but they will also be keen that that money is spent well. Will the Minister ensure that many more clinicians practise at the top of their licence doing the things that we need them to do, rather than spend their time doing things that clerical staff and more junior colleagues would be better placed doing?
Minister reply
We need to make sure that our NHS workforce, which is diverse in terms of its skills and background, is able to work where those skills are most effectively deployed to deliver the best outcomes for patients. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: where are there are administrative tasks, which I do not in any way denigrate, that are better performed by an administrator than a clinician, we should be looking to deliver that.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Question
I commend the Minister for being assiduous and incredibly dedicated. We welcome money wherever it comes from because it is important to have it. In Northern Ireland we are very keen to see what that money will mean. Will similar money be provided for Northern Ireland through the Barnett consequentials? Will there be any direction as to how the money is spent—for example, to address this year’s non-elective surgery waiting list to give people their sight back, their ability back, and indeed, for some, their lives back? What discussions have taken place with Robin Swann, the Health Minister, in relation to that?
Minister reply
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman —my hon. Friend—for his question. The Chancellor will set out the detail of Barnett consequentials in due course. The hon. Gentleman knows that I speak to Robin Swann, to whose work I pay tribute, at regular intervals—almost fortnightly—about a number of things. I have not yet discussed the detail of this matter with him, and it will be for him as a devolved Health Minister to make those decisions, but I will of course discuss it with him.
Question
My constituents in Kettering will welcome the extra NHS investment in diagnostics and elective care, but the best way to permanently increase elective capacity in Kettering is for permission to be given for the go-ahead for the redevelopment of Kettering General Hospital. In that regard, will the Minister impress on NHS England and NHS Improvement the urgent need to approve and give permission for the strategic outline case for the hospital redevelopment?
Minister reply
For a brief moment, I thought my hon. Friend was not going to mention the new hospital at Kettering. Yes, I am very happy to have that conversation with NHS England colleagues as I continue to discuss the new hospital in his constituency with them at regular intervals.
Rachael Maskell
Lab Co-op
York Central
Question
Workforce planning failures have brought us to this point, but many of the patients on the elective waiting lists will be showing up in primary care, and with greater acuity as they wait longer for their treatments. What additional support will the Minister give primary care to manage people on all these waiting lists?
Minister reply
The hon. Lady is right to highlight that primary care and GP practices are often the front door for the vast majority of these people on the waiting lists, and I pay tribute to the hard work of GPs up and down the country over the past year and a half to two years. She will have seen the announcement a few weeks ago by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, in which he set out further support that would be made available to help GP practices.
Question
Our GPs have done an amazing job across the country, but especially in Rother Valley, whether that is the Dinnington Group Practice, Swallownest Health Centre or the Stag Medical Centre. I note that there has been a 35% increase in the amount of junior doctors wanting to become GPs. Can we make sure that some of those new GPs and new applicants are in Rother Valley?
Minister reply
We should make sure that general practice is an attractive career for newly qualified doctors wherever they are in the country. I suspect it will be for those individuals joining the profession to determine where they wish to practise, but I suspect my hon. Friend will do a very good job of explaining to them the joys of working in Rother Valley.
Catherine West
Lab
Hornsey and Friern Barnet
Question
There are very worrying press reports about a lack of midwifery. Can the Minister put his hand on his heart and tell us that every single trust in the country has a safe ratio of staff to women giving birth?
Minister reply
The hon. Lady asks a very important question. Patient safety, including in midwifery and births, is central to what we are about in this Government and in NHS England. That is one reason why we have seen more than 9,000 more nurses, midwives and health visitors recruited, but we need to continue to do more, and we will continue to do so.
Question
I am certain my constituents will warmly welcome this additional funding. There is currently unprecedented demand on health and care services in Cornwall, more now than at any point in the pandemic. The Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro has escalated its operational level from operational pressures escalation level 4, or OPEL4, to “internal critical incident”. I welcome the meeting that the Cornish MPs had with the Minister last week. I have written to the Secretary of State to ask how we can get some additional support to help us to de-escalate this unprecedented situation.
Minister reply
As my hon. Friend alludes to, I met her and other hon. Friends from Cornwall last week to discuss this matter. I appreciate the pressures facing the NHS in Cornwall, particularly after the pressures it faced over the summer, when other parts of the system may have experienced slightly less pressure, because of all the holidaymakers who rightly go to visit Cornwall. I look forward to working with her further on this and thank the staff of the trust for what they are doing. We recognise the challenges, which is why we are providing this extra capital funding, including capital funding from previous pots, to her trust. I am happy to have a further meeting with her and her chief exec, if she feels that would be helpful.
Wera Hobhouse
Lib Dem
Bath
Question
The Royal College of Radiologists reports that, as of today, another 1,675 consultants are needed to keep up with current NHS demand. The Minister pointed earlier to a recruitment drive and said that 48% more have been recruited. Still, 1,675 consultant staff are needed. If he cannot give us the answer today, how on earth will he recruit these important people very soon? Will he come back with a statement very soon on how this situation will be resolved?
Minister reply
What I said in response to the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) and other hon. Members was that we have seen the number of radiographers and radiologists grow steadily since 2010, and it continues to increase. I appreciate the point made by the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) about the rate of growth, but it is growing. We are recruiting and training more, so I think we are on track to continue recruiting more into that space.
Question
I strongly welcome the new money for the national health service on top of the £34 billion that will be spent. Is it not the case that the new money—the many billions being spent on the NHS—is one of the reasons why we will be able to fund our new hospital programme, including the new Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow?
Minister reply
The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow has no greater champion that my right hon. Friend. I reassure him that, as he knows, it is on the list of 40 new hospitals that we are committed to building before 2030.
Question
I, too, welcome the significant extra resource for our national health service as we tackle the covid backlog. I seek an assurance from the Minister that more difficult to detect conditions, such as blood cancers, will be at the heart of what those diagnostic hubs will deliver.
Minister reply
The purpose of the investment in diagnostic capacity is not only to tackle the backlog but to provide a long-term solution to allow diagnostic tests to take place for more people earlier in the illness and to detect illnesses at an early stage. We know that is a key part of tackling illness, preventing serious illness and aiding recovery.
Question
I welcome the funding for the NHS, and I ask the Minister whether the funding will get down to our ambulance trusts too. Around the country, including in my constituency, waiting times are under huge pressure. What help will there be for winter ambulance pressures, particularly in North Norfolk?
Minister reply
The funding is capital funding for diagnostic hubs and surgical hubs, which will ease pressure by allowing day surgery to continue but without taking up beds in acute settings and while allowing the flow of patients through A&Es. On my hon. Friend’s specific point, we have already announced and provided £55 million to aid our ambulance trusts this winter.
Shadow Comment
Daisy Cooper
Shadow Comment
The announcement of extra cash for the NHS lacks critical details such as funding sources and impact on staff. There are almost 6 million people waiting for treatment with thousands at risk of early deaths due to delayed operations. Hospitals in west Hertfordshire have been awaiting funds for months, raising questions about new commitments. The plan's success hinges on addressing tens of thousands of NHS vacancies; without trained staff, medical equipment could go unused.
▸
Assessment & feedback
Summary accuracy
About House of Commons Debates
House of Commons debates take place in the main chamber of the House of Commons. These debates cover a wide range of topics including government policy, legislation, and current affairs. MPs from all parties can participate, question ministers, and hold the government accountable for its decisions.