Tuesday Volume 692 13 April 2021 No. 199 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Tuesday 13 April 2021 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2021 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 119 13 APRIL 2021 120 would my right hon. Friend agree that it is more important House of Commons than ever,as our NHS starts to recover from the pandemic, that we provide the best possible health facilities? Tuesday 13 April 2021 Matt Hancock: Yes, I would. The NHS has clearly played such a critical part in the response to the pandemic The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock in the last just over a year. I thank all those working in and around Stoke, including at the Royal Stoke, which PRAYERS is a great hospital. We have put £32 million into the local NHS, and we protected the NHS even through the worst challenges of this pandemic. Of course, I will be [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] open to further investment to make sure that the NHS Virtual participation in proceedings commenced across Stoke gets the support that it needs so that we (Orders, 4 June and 30 December 2020). can build back better. Today, we are all able to see the [NB: [V] denotes a Member participating virtually.] improvements that are being made in the response to the covid pandemic, with the opening yesterday of step 2 —I am delighted, Mr Speaker, to see that you have had Oral Answers to Questions a haircut. So many of us have been looking forward to being able to get life back to normal, and thanks to the work of people across Stoke and across the nation, we are able to take these steps. HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE Mr Speaker: This is Mrs Hoyle’s effort, but there we The Secretary of State was asked— are. Health Service Capital Estate Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab): Congratulations to Mrs Hoyle on a job well done. Holly Mumby-Croft (Scunthorpe) (Con): What progress New investment is welcome, but it is no consolation his Department has made on improving the health to those patients missing out because the rest of the service capital estate. [914189] NHS estate is being starved of investment. We have Jack Brereton (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Con): What seen a 23% increase in treatments being delayed or progress his Department has made on improving the cancelled in the last year because of infrastructure failures, and the maintenance backlog went up by another health service capital estate. [914205] 50% last year. We are not going to see those record The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care waiting lists drop if operations are cancelled because (Matt Hancock): In our election manifesto, we committed basic repairs are not done, so will the Secretary of State to building 40 new hospitals by 2030 and upgrading tell us by what date we will see no more delays to another 20 hospitals.Weare delivering on that commitment treatment because of crumbling buildings? and now have plans to build 48 new hospitals this decade. We will open a competition for the eight further Matt Hancock: We are putting a record amount of new hospitals shortly. investment into the infrastructure of the NHS. That is evidenced by the questions that we have had already, Holly Mumby-Croft: I thank my right hon. Friend for with the improvements in Stoke, Scunthorpe and across the investment that we have seen in Scunthorpe General the rest of the country. It is about not just the physical Hospital over the last year. Residents are seeing those investment, but making sure that we support staff to be changes and it will certainly help us in the medium able to deliver and making sure that the NHS gets the term. Looking to the future, will he continue to work support that it needs to tackle this backlog. We have a with me on the plans for a new hospital for Scunthorpe? very significant backlog because of the pandemic and we are working incredibly hard to tackle it. Matt Hancock: I thank everybody who is working at Scunthorpe General Hospital for their incredible effort Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-out over the last year. My hon. Friend has been an assiduous campaigner for Scunthorpe hospital and the upgrades Tom Randall (Gedling) (Con): What assessment he that we have already been able to put money into, and has made of the progress of covid-19 vaccine roll-out now there are eight slots for further new hospitals. among the UK adult population. [914190] Forty have been announced and we will build eight more over this decade. We will shortly announce how Elliot Colburn (Carshalton and Wallington) (Con): we are going to make that decision. There will be an What assessment he has made of the progress of covid-19 open process and I look forward to working with her, vaccine roll-out among the UK adult population. her colleagues and colleagues across the NHS in [914191] Lincolnshire to make sure that they can put together the best possible application. The Minister for Covid Vaccine Deployment (Nadhim Zahawi): First, I would like to pay tribute to our fantastic Jack Brereton: I would like to take this opportunity NHS and all the frontline vaccinators, our volunteers, to thank the Government for investing in mental health armed forces and local authorities and all those working facilities at Heartlands Hospital and acute facilities at on the vaccine deployment programme. I am very grateful the Royal Stoke University Hospital. Together, this will for their tireless efforts in vaccinating those most at risk see over £32 million being invested in our local NHS, so across the country. 121 Oral Answers 13 APRIL 2021 Oral Answers 122 I am absolutely delighted, Mr Speaker—no haircut The Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention puns at all here—that another significant milestone has and Mental Health (Ms Nadine Dorries): In October been reached, as we have met our target of offering a 2020, I commissioned the Care Quality Commission to vaccine to those in cohorts 1 to 9 ahead of schedule. review how do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation Over 32 million people have had their first dose and decisions were taken throughout the covid-19 pandemic more than 7.6 million have had their second dose. We and whether they had been inappropriately applied. We are making phenomenal progress, but we remain focused welcome the CQC report, which was published on on ensuring that no one gets left behind. 18 March, and we are committed to driving forward delivery of the recommendations through a ministerial Tom Randall: Last week I became one of those people oversight group, which I will chair, to ultimately ensure who had their first jab, at Boots the chemist in Nottingham. that everyone experiences the compassionate care that Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking all those in they deserve. places such as Boots and all those involved in the roll-out of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca Karin Smyth [V]: I welcome the Minister’s comments. and Moderna vaccines? Does he agree that the best way It is over a decade since I worked with clinicians on how out of this situation is to get that jab, and that when the to communicate end-of-life care, so I was shocked by time comes and people get the call, they should take some of the reports and by reading the CQC and that opportunity as soon as they can? Compassion in Dying reports. The lessons learned from coronavirus can and should be seen as a catalyst to Nadhim Zahawi: I absolutely agree with my hon. having more open and honest conversations about this Friend, and I thank Boots the chemist not only for its decision making and advanced care planning. Will the frontline capability but for its distribution arm, which Minister commit to a public awareness campaign, including has helped us to distribute Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford- groups such as Compassion in Dying, Marie Curie and AstraZeneca and, now, Moderna. I agree that when Hospice UK, to ensure that patients are fully aware and people get the call, they should come forward and have at the heart of these decisions? their jab. Ms Dorries: I thank the hon. Lady for her question. That is exactly what we are trying to do at the moment. Elliot Colburn [V]: I welcome today’s news that the We have posted a public-facing message on the nhs.uk over-45s are being invited to receive their first dose of website, which informs the public about how DNACPR the vaccine, and I thank everyone in Carshalton and decisions should be taken and the process involved. Wallington who is involved in the roll-out. I recently There should be no blanket application of DNACPR held a vaccine roundtable with NHS leaders in Carshalton notices. Every patient should be involved in the decision and Wallington to encourage everyone, including ethnic when a notice is applied, as well as the family, relatives minority groups, to come forward and get the vaccine and care workers, and where possible it should be when their time comes. Could my hon. Friend update signed by a clinician. This engagement with the NHS, the House on what steps the Government are taking to the wider public and the voluntary and care sectors is work with community leaders and others to ensure that ongoing, and we continue to monitor it.