Henry Tufnell

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson) for securing the debate. I am unique in this debate in the sense that I am a Welsh MP, and Wales faces unique challenges in respect of cross-border healthcare. Like many other hon. Members’ constituencies, Pembrokeshire is at a disadvantage because of its rurality. We have a fantastically beautiful coastline and beautiful countryside, but we are disadvantaged in terms of accessing these essential services. I have conducted a constituency-wide survey, in which 85% of respondents said they found it difficult to secure a GP appointment, and 88% did not have access to NHS dentistry. Time and again, the problem is the distance to essential treatment. They are being required regularly to travel out of county. The recent downgrading of our local hospital in Pembrokeshire by the Hywel Dda University Health Board was a catastrophe for local residents, who are forced to travel further and further afield. When residents are forced to travel across the border, there are often difficulties in transferring medical records, with real-world implications for my constituents. One constituent, who has been diagnosed with cancer, faces the choice of travelling to Bath or paying thousands of pounds to get treatment privately closer to home. The therapy they need is widely available in England but is not offered anywhere in Wales. Similarly, one constituent was referred to a hospital several hours away, in Bath, for specialist treatment for an autoimmune condition, requiring that individual, who is in their 80s or 90s, to undertake extensive travel and round trips. I could go on with the examples, but suffice it to say that, while the record settlement that has been put forward by the UK Labour Government to our colleagues in Cardiff Bay is incredibly welcome and much needed, it does not get at the root of the problem of delivering healthcare right across the board. My constituents continue to live with poor access to healthcare. I therefore ask the Minister to commit to exploring how to ensure better communications and transfer of patient records between practices in England and Wales. Does he agree that the UK Government must work with the Welsh Government to ensure that rural communities, such as mine in Pembrokeshire, do not continue to suffer the consequences of a postcode lottery for healthcare?