Jim Shannon

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I commend the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Luke Taylor) on his presentation of this debate on subject matter that some, such as the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner), have personal experience of. Others, including me, have staff members who have had this condition, and some have family members who have had it—I understand that my friend the hon. Member for North Down (Alex Easton) has experienced that. This is an opportunity to speak on behalf of sufferers in my constituency of Strangford and across this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The NHS estimates that some 14 million people in the UK experience some form of urinary incontinence. That figure is expected to rise because of an ageing population with often very complex health issues. That is a fact of life. Those of a certain age—I am one of them—find that their health issues are multiple. That is the nature of age; it takes its toll. Inadequate continence care can lead to serious complications, with urinary tract infections among the most common and concerning outcomes. NHS data showed that there were more than 1.8 million hospital admissions involving UTIs between 2018-19 and 2022-23. The majority involved patients aged 65 or older. The admissions include both those directly caused by UTIs and those for other reasons but where a UTI was also present. As a leading cause of emergency admissions, UTIs place substantial strain on NHS resources, while diminishing patients’ dignity, experiences and outcomes. I wish to highlight that this issue affects both men and women, as well as children. The hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam referred to a three-year-old girl, so children are affected by chronic UTIs. A member of my office staff, one of our young girls, came to work with me when she was 16. She has been there for a long time, so I must be doing something right; she has not left me to go elsewhere where the money is better. Perhaps the conditions and the time off are better as well. I understood the chronic pain that my staff member had, but also the need to be flexible at times—whenever she was not well, she obviously needed time off. She attended a fair few hospital appointments for a chronic UTI, and it was a very difficult time. She was on antibiotics for six months. I wondered, “Is that possible?” But in this case it was, because the infection was so chronic. Ultimately it cleared. Also, on 1 January this year she got married, so her life is going in the right direction now—thank goodness for that. The issue was exacerbated at the time by the difficulty of getting GP appointments and specialist referrals. The chronic pain just seemed to exist forever, even with the help of antibiotics. Eventually she got to the end of that six-month period and she is now in much better health. I want to mention what we are doing in Northern Ireland, because obviously that will be part of any debate in which I speak. In Northern Ireland we have something, and perhaps the Minister will say to me in a few minutes, once I tell her what it is about, “Well, we’re already doing that.” If they are, that is good. I was very relieved when Northern Ireland rolled out the Pharmacy First scheme, especially as the scheme covers advice and treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infections in the local pharmacy, so without having to wait for a GP appointment. If the Minister tells me that the Government have not done that yet, can I say that it is another Northern Ireland first? And if the Minister is not aware of it, may I say, to be helpful in this debate, that perhaps it should be done here as well? The pharmacist may test the patient’s urine to help to determine whether a UTI is present. How does the scheme work? What happens when a person goes to their local pharmacy in Northern Ireland? In some cases, self-care advice may be all that is necessary. In other words, they will get a bit of advice. The pharmacist will find out what the symptoms are and explain the situation to the person, and perhaps will be able to respond fairly quickly. As I said, in some cases self-care advice may be all that is necessary, but the community pharmacist is also able to supply the patient with medicines to relieve pain—in some cases there can be chronic pain—and, if applicable, antibiotics. In all cases, women will be advised on what to do if their symptoms worsen or do not resolve. The Pharmacy First UTI service means that women can be assessed and treated much sooner, without having to wait for a GP appointment—like the young girl in my office—for a month, two months, six weeks or whatever the case may be. Not only will patients not need an appointment, but community pharmacies are more likely to be open after normal working hours, at weekends and on bank holidays. Newtownards, my major town, has a number of pharmacies, which take turns staying open at the weekend; there is always access to a pharmacy in Newtownards and, indeed, other major towns in the Province. The UTI management service expanded to more than 400 community pharmacies in 2024-25, following positive evaluation of the pilot, which involved 60 pharmacies and started in July 2021. That success convinced the Northern Ireland Department of Health to make the pilot bigger and showed that we could do more. Between March 2022 and April 2023, 3,500 women in Northern Ireland used the pilot service. Following assessment, more than 85% were diagnosed with a UTI and received appropriate advice and treatment from a pharmacist. That is positive, but for those with chronic UTIs, like the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South, the pharmacy does not cut it and the GP can only do so much. There are different levels of response: community pharmacies in Northern Ireland provide an automatic response to those who have a urinary infection, rather than a chronic UTI, but sometimes things are much more complicated. The waiting list to be seen for a UTI in Northern Ireland is long, and the average waiting time for urology appointments varies significantly, depending on the health and social care trust and the urgency of the case. For example, in the Belfast health and social care trust, the wait in a red flag case—the most urgent—might be nine weeks, which is more than two months and far too long; a non-urgent case could wait 76 weeks, and a routine case could wait 180 weeks. Those are horrendous and completely unacceptable waiting times. Throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, there needs to be access to specialised care, innovation, new and modern technology, and new ideas, rather than a six-month course of antibiotics and a hope for the best. Men, women and children need more, and it must be provided. I look forward to the Minister’s response. She responded positively to last week’s debate, and I am sure that today she will again indicate her wish to make lives better. This debate gives her the opportunity to do so, and to help those who have been waiting so long for an end to their health issue. We can do better—and we must.