Kate Osborne

If I may begin on a personal note, just three weeks ago I had a second operation on my back, and I wish to put on record my sincere thanks to the staff who cared for me, from the clinicians who treated me to everyone involved in my care and recovery. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.] Too often our access to healthcare depends on our postcode. That postcode lottery is stark in a number of areas, but nowhere more so than with IVF. As chair of the APPG on fertility, I have raised this issue repeatedly with Ministers. I again invite Ministers to attend our fertility roundtable tomorrow and to commit to ensuring that every ICB follows, at the very least, the NICE guidelines on access to IVF and fertility treatment. We must strengthen the role of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in neighbourhood health planning and NHS commissioning. Voluntary organisations understand the barriers to care for hard-to-reach communities and often have trusted relationships with communities that statutory services struggle to reach. We see that particularly clearly in HIV and AIDS provision. Voluntary organisations have been fundamental to the UK’s response for decades, through prevention, testing, peer support, tackling stigma and supporting people living with HIV. I am extremely grateful to the National AIDS Trust for working with me on the new clauses, and I thank Ministers for their constructive engagement. Members of the LGBT+ community must have trust in healthcare providers, and community groups bridge that gap when needed. New clauses 142 and 143 would actively harm vitally needed healthcare. The provision in new clause 142 has already been rejected in Committee, and we see it for what it is: an opportunity to attack some of the most vulnerable in our society. Access to much-needed healthcare has already been paused in the UK, and if access to treatment for gender dysphoria is now to be dependent upon additional research, the pathways trial must go ahead without further delay. The provisions in new clause 143 were also rejected in Committee and are another attempt to vilify. The amendment fails to recognise the framework already in place to ensure that single-sex services are provided where they meet the requirements of the Equality Act. Neither the code nor the Supreme Court judgment mandate the provision of single-sex facilities. Providers must still consider whether the service falls within an exception within the Equality Act, whether single-sex provision is proportionate, what the impact might be on trans people, and what mitigation might be necessary. I welcome the 10-year health plan. We have made great strides in repairing the damage done to our NHS—