Today in Parliament I hosted a debate in Westminster Hall on the provision of healthcare in the East of England.

I started my speech by praising the NHS as the beating heart of healthcare provision. Based on the distribution of healthcare based on need and not the size of your wallet, it is the closest thing to socialism this country has ever seen. This farsighted policy has changed the very nature of our everyday reality.

I highlighted the three pillars necessary for a healthy nation, as identified by William Beveridge, John Maynard Keynes and Aneurin Bevan.

1. The NHS is the first pillar, as it is there for you when you become sick. But it’s the second and third pillars that meant the NHS wouldn’t be overburdened and would work in tandem with them – to prevent sickness.
2. The second pillar is the welfare state, ensuring a network of social institutions that would protect citizens from the market risks associated with unemployment, accidents and old age. 
3. The third pillar is an economic system that prioritises full employment in secure, well-paid, unionised jobs. An economy that aims to reduce all forms of inequalities from wealth to health. 

But over the past 60 years, these pillars have been systematically smashed, with the 2nd and 3rd pillars now in literal tatters, and the 1st, the NHS, wobbling precariously.

Ambulance response times in the eastern region are significantly worse than the rest of England. In 2023 response times for Category 1 (severe) cases was nearly 12 minutes in East Anglia. The national target is 7 minutes. This was nearly the worst on record.

Norwich is also a dental desert, a desert where people pull their own teeth out in the burgeoning phenomenon of DIY dentistry. Indeed some Ukrainian constituents find it preferable to dodge Russian missiles and artillery to use Ukrainian dentists. This is unsurprising given that in the eastern region, we have just one dentist per 2600 people.

In my speech, I asked the Minister of State for the Department of Health and Social Care what healthcare in the eastern region would look like if we prioritised prevention. She told me that prevention is a key part of the Government’s mission and repeated my call for the security of good health so that people can live fulfilling lives. 

I also asked the Minister for any updates surrounding plans for an undergraduate dental school at the University of East Anglia. She told me she could not go into detail on these proposals but reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to over 700,000 new urgent dental appointments, promising to rebuild dentistry for the longer term by reforming the dental contract.

You can read the full transcript of my speech here.

You can watch part of my speech below.