Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)

I thank the noble Baroness for her comments and the background. I shall particularly pick up on the issue of moonlighting, which she has raised before. As a point of reference, during the industrial action in 2022-24, it was picked up. There were isolated and anecdotal incidents of this behaviour. It is difficult to get accurate information, and with the current systems in place there is no clear or easy way to monitor the practice. However, resident doctors moonlighting while on strike is clearly unacceptable and in clear breach of the GMC code of practice. As I have said before, it is up to the employers to take any reports of this very seriously, and I am sure they will. I echo the noble Baroness’s comments about the medical profession in this country. We have some extraordinary people working in the whole of the NHS, not just the doctors. It is a phenomenal organisation, and we believe it is our absolute duty to do everything we can to protect it and preserve it for the future, and to keep it true to its principles of delivering care free at the point of delivery and reaching everyone that needs it.