Winchester & Chandler's Ford MP, Steve Brine, was at the centre of one of Westminster's key moments today as he put questions to the Prime Minister.
The MP, appearing in his role as Chair of the cross-party Health & Social Care Select Committee, quizzed Rishi Sunak on NHS Covid catch-up and the recent pay settlement during a meeting of the Liaison Committee. It features chairs of select committees who ask questions on their specific areas.
Steve asked the PM to give an update on the elective care backlog and what progress the NHS in England is making to eliminate two-year - and by the end of March - 18-month waits for care.
He said; "One could say that you are gaining a reputation as a problem solver. One area where that looks to be true is the winter NHS pay dispute, in particular with the nurses, and the provisional agreement with the “Agenda for Change” unions, which is wider than just the nurses. You will know that there is some anxiety out there, if these agreements that have been reached are confirmed through the unions, about where the money is going to come from to pay for those increases. Will it come from existing budgets, or is there going to be extra funding to the trusts that will have to pay those settlements?"
Mr Sunak responded; "I was very pleased that we were able to reach agreement with several health unions on a fair and reasonable pay settlement for about 1.4 million NHS workers. It is right that they are paid fairly and rewarded for the fantastic work they do, whether it is nurses, midwives, paramedics or others. But it is also important that that was affordable for the taxpayer and consistent with our promises to halve inflation and cut the waiting lists. I think we have struck the right balance.
"I hope you have seen the comments from the Health Secretary today that provided the reassurance that people were looking for. Of course, there are always conversations between Departments and the Treasury that I wouldn’t want to get in the middle of, but I think the Health Secretary provided strong reassurance about additional funding, as well as reprioritisation from elsewhere, making sure that the commitment to continue delivering care and all our commitments to cut waiting lists are absolutely paramount and protected. I think that has been warmly welcomed by the sector."
Our MP went onto ask; "Turning to a very much linked subject, NHS recovery, which I know is something that you care about deeply, last February, the elective recovery plan, for tackling the covid backlog on elective care, was published. Is that on track or even beating the target that you were expecting by this point?"
The PM responded; "I would say it is broadly on track. The waiting list was up to about 7 million, and we all know the reasons why. We set out a few targets in that plan. The first was to eliminate two-year waiters, which was practically done last year.
"The next target is to eliminate the one-and-a-half year waiters this spring. We are broadly on track for that. Obviously, the junior doctors’ industrial action may have an impact on that, but we are on track—other than the industrial action—to hit that. I pay enormous tribute to the trusts and everyone involved in making good progress on that, and to Jim Mackey in particular, who is leading the charge.
"The target after that is to practically eliminate the 52-week waiters by around spring next year. So the immediate target is the one for this spring; pending industrial action, we are making good progress on it. Thanks to a lot of hard work from a lot of people, elective activity at the moment is running at about 106% of pre-pandemic levels. That is testament to all the initiatives that we have put place working, but of course we need to drive that number higher, and that is what the plan is for the rest of this year."
The session also heard questions around economic policy, migration and the recently agreed Windsor Framework.
Pictured; Steve Brine at the Liaison Committee questioning Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
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