Primary Care Services for Men: England and Scotland

Johanna Baxter, the Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, asked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Andrew Gwynne, to make a comparative assessment of the adequacy of access to primary care services for men in England and Scotland. In his response, Andrew Gwynne acknowledged that primary care is "broken", with 1,600 fewer fully qualified GPs than in 2017. He recognised that men can face particular challenges in accessing services, and stated that the government is committed to "fixing the front door to the NHS" and shifting the focus of care into the community. Gwynne noted that health is devolved in Scotland, but said he welcomed opportunities to share learning across the two nations. Johanna Baxter followed up, highlighting that the rate of premature death in men in her constituency is 47.9% higher than the UK average, and that the number of people who have died by suicide in Renfrewshire has increased to the highest level in 10 years. She asked if Gwynne agreed that this was a "damning indictment" of the Scottish National Party government's record on health, and requested that he commit to holding a summit in November with Movember to raise men's health up the agenda. Gwynne agreed that the statistics were "damning and shocking", and stated that health inequalities in any part of the UK need to be tackled. He committed to taking up Baxter's challenge and organising a summit with Movember and other interested members to discuss men's health issues. Seamus Logan, the SNP MP for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, then intervened, asking the Secretary of State to confirm that it is the policy of the government to take steps to increase the UK's health spending to the average of other countries in north-west Europe. The Speaker, however, ruled that the question should be more directly linked to the subject of access to primary care, and Gwynne responded by emphasising the Labour government's commitment to tackling health inequalities and fixing the NHS.