Got a question for Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care?

[JustineMumsnet]

Hi all,

Next week we’ll be back in Westminster to put your questions to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting MP.

His brief covers some big areas that we know are really important to Mumsnetters - including maternity care, access to GPs and dentists, mental health services, social care, public health, and how we keep the NHS sustainable in the long term. If you’ve got a question you’d like me to ask, please post it below.

As ever, one question per user please and keep it civil. We’ll be tight on time, so please keep questions short and sharp, so I can get through as many as possible.

We’ll close the thread on Wednesday pm - so do get your questions in before then.

Thanks,
Justine

The many studies are all public and easily accessible. Have a look and see what you think.

But regardless, clean air policies would also help greatly reduce other illnesses, reduce allergens, reduce pollution and boost concentration. There are simply no downsides to having clean air in schools.

Try this article on school buildings, if you’re not convinced by Covid harms - it covers everything: www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/your-school-building-making-you-sick

Thank you for implementing the recommendations of the Cass Review on puberty blockers.
As we continue to hear more about the evidence of psychological and physical harm relating to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and the removal or permanent functional alteration of (healthy) body parts, how far do you think we are from looking back at "gender affirming care" as akin to lobotomies, or similar medical experimentations, which had ostensibly laudable aims but fell far short of ethical treatment in reality?

I think it might be wise to qualify the asbestos bit. My house insurers are dealing with an escape of water and tests showed the ceilings are positive for asbestos. I am reliably informed that if the asbestos is wet it is safe. The water soaked through the MDF in the kitchen units before revealing itself on the ceilings.

Not all the ceilings in the two rooms are wet, but will have to be removed completely by experts because once you cut away the wet bit, the dry bit is exposed, so two ceilings have to come down, the wall in between the two rooms, the bathroom floor, and the wall, which is bulging and the shower room behind that wall which is also wet, and if the wet walls soak the ceilings there, they will have to come down too. All because of a little crack in the toilet which went unnoticed.

The latest case of asbestos was a woman whose father worked with asbestos and didn't change his overalls before hugging her.

Only people on means tested benefit can have free NHS dental work. Everyone pays, but the maximum is £326.70 I think.

There is a sliding scale, and a friend of mine had a filling done privately and the cost was no more than the NHS if you are Not on benefit, so it is possible to pay less if you go regularly and not have much work done.

I don't know about everywhere, only what a friend told me.

DHSC has admitted never commissioning research in to the long term impacts on women’s health of egg retrieval, and to not undertaking an impact assessment before allowing payments to women for their eggs by fertility clinics to rise to £985. Is it your view that this is safe, or that young women being targeted for their eggs is ethical?

Could we ask how he really feels about women’s rights and fair treatment given the alleged two facedness on the matter of single sex spaces.

Reported here that he has said one thing the the Darlington nurses and public, and quite another at a LGBT NHS event. https://x.com/jamesesses/status/1967660832998748534?s=46

Additionally, and off the back of that, given the loss of trust in politics in general how does he plan to rebuild faith in the intellectual and moral vigour of politics.

Can he make the admin easier for carers? My mum has a severe mental impairment and we are moving her to an extra care facility. I have to do all of the public sector admin again for a new local authority and the private sector won’t deal with me unless she is there (PoA in place) and they don’t have an appropriate service for dealing with a vulnerable adult. Couldn’t there be a passport to make it easier?

There is, you can apply for deputyship. Extra care is not really appropriate for people who lack capacity. If memory loss is advanced, the change is too much. Better to go from home with carers to care home.

You recently announced a ban on energy drinks for under-16s, saying, ‘You can see the impact on the health, concentration and the learning, and that is why we are acting.’ Given the well-documented negative effects of social media on young people’s mental health, concentration, and learning, why are you not proposing similar restrictions on under-16s using social media?

Back in March you announced very significant cuts in spending on NHSE and ICBs with warning of large numbers of redundancies . 6 months later there is no firm news on how the ( very expensive) redundancies will be funded and it is widely believed the restructuring will be much watered down or abandoned. Do you now regret making such a rash and ill
thought out announcement, without properly costing your plans? Thank you.

You claim to be holding a megaphone to patient voice, but are doing this by closing down the statutory independent route for that voice - namely the whole Healthwatch network, 153 small local organisations. This at a time many hospital and mental health Trusts are struggling to staff their existing Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) Teams. You've also said people can speak for themselves, but research shows anonymity is vital for people to feel confident sharing their health and care experiences. Isn't it time to strengthen, not silence, independent voice in health and care?

Hi Wes,
You say you want to hold a megaphone to patient voice, but to do this you are abolishing the statutory vehicle for independent voice in health and care. Namely the Healthwatch network - made up of 153 mainly very small voluntary sector organisations. You are doing this at a time many hospital and mental health Trusts are struggling to staff their Patient Advice and Liaison Services, with our local Trust no longer answering the phone and our mental health provider only offering a 'complaints' service. This also ignores compelling research which shows most people only feel safe to raise their concerns where they can do this anonymously, to make sure they don't compromise their ongoing care. There are also concerns about those who are digitally excluded having no clear routes to share their experiences. You've so far failed to provide any clear timelines for the change, or confirm whether TUPE will apply to the staff in these roles, many of whom cost considerably less than staff within the public sector bodies you will transfer their functions to. Given this troubling picture, do you agree it is time to revisit your plans, and strengthen, not silence, independent voice in our health and care system?

Ignore this one - I added another as I thought it hadn't posted and then couldn't delete one....

Hello Wes

In 2014 a report estimated the total annual spend on DEI roles in the NHS to be £7million. Current estimates put this figure at around £40million. How is this spending on low impact, low priority roles justified when so many areas providing critical fundamental NHS functions are struggling with capacity, outdated IT systems and squeezed budgets? We managed without these roles just a few years ago so what has changed that means we need all of these roles now?

Thanks

Featured on Good Morning Britain this week, an estimated 1.7 million UK women are suffering from Chronic UTI which is a disabling and horrifically painful condition.

The condition is officially recognised on the NHS website, yet there is currently only ONE clinic operating in London only, treating these patients, and NO official guidelines for treatment exist.

Why is this? Other conditions with as many sufferers have guidelines for treatment and more than one clinic.

Hello,

Why do you think that multiple NHS trusts needs separate communication, DAI, People Promises, data analysis etc departments. Why not just pool the local/ regional resources and safe money. I am a clinical staff and have seen nursing manager ordering beakers from Amazon to keep her patients hydrated and pay out of their own pocket. Do you plan to spend time on an inpatient ward for the care of elderly?

Hello,

Why do you think that multiple NHS trusts needs separate communication, DAI, People Promises, data analysis etc departments. Why not just pool the local/ regional resources and safe money. I am a clinical staff and have seen nursing manager ordering beakers from Amazon to keep her patients hydrated and pay out of their own pocket. Do you plan to spend time on an inpatient ward for the care of elderly?

Why given the current state of the NHS are newly qualified nurses not able to find jobs? We are heading towards a huge crisis if this is not addressed given the number of nurses currently leaving or planning to leave in the short term.
i have absolutely no issue with nurses coming in from other countries but there needs to be significantly more positions available for NQN’s across the UK.

Yes, slash nonsense budgets and start paying for beds in hospitals cared for by Nurses.

Within the context of your 10 year plan and merging NHSE with the DHSC, how do you plan to empower patients and will you please retain low cost/high impact initiatives that build patients knowledge, skills and confidence eg the Peer Leadership Development Programme?

Why can’t I get a GP appointment. The phone lines open at 8am, all appointment have gone by 8.20. No more appointments until the next day at 8am.

I’d like to second this. For people at work it’s impossible to sit on the phone every day whilst commuting trying to get a doctors appointment. The only alternative is to take days off work and spend day after day after day trying to get a GP appointment.

It is truly shocking. Will he be next to go? A minister who wants to defy medical advice should not be in that position.

At the start of the Assisted Dying Bill, he was asked about social care and mentioned something like 'We will know more when the Assisted Dying Bill is passed''.

I was horrified. I don't think I heard wrongly. The words might be out of order, but the two items were spoken in the same sentence. I was surprised more wasn't made of it, but he was fairly new, I think, at the time, so perhaps it was ignored, because if it had been picked up on, there would have been a forore.

Why arnt trainee Counselling Psychologists paid on clinical placement in the NHS? In 2023 we gave 1,120 clinical hours per week saving the NHS £1.4 million. All unpaid. We hold caseloads like our trainee Clinical Psychologist colleagues for up to 1 year, perform the same tasks as them, achieve the same outcomes. They are on Band 6 and course fees paid. We get NOTHING except large training debt. Please end this injustice, its unethical, unsustainable, exploitative, and potentially illegal.

What is the government actively doing to tackle the issue that women, particularly for gynaecological treatment, are far more likely to be on waiting lists for longer than men?

• For pathways where sex is recorded, women make up a higher percentage of the waiting list (57%) compared to men (43%). Women are more likely to be waiting over 18 and 52 weeks than men.

Adding to this (and echoing question posted already), what can be done to increase women's access and rights to suitable pain relief for gynaecological procedures (such as insertion of IUDs) and the postpartum period.

Reference to stats from 17 July 2025 - www.england.nhs.uk/2025/07/nhs-publishes-waiting-list-breakdowns-to-tackle-health-inequalities/