Our Policy and Public Affairs Manager Thomas Brayford shares a personal view after attending the Labour Party Conference.
This year's rain-soaked Labour Party conference was served up as a cocktail of anticipation and apprehension. In between attending fringe events, I met with members of the Lords, Commons and charity colleagues from the cancer and neurological world.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, was certainly in demand for a second year running. Mr Streeting appeared at numerous fringe events, where he repeated his mantra that the NHS has the choice of “reform or die”, with die not being an option.
Speaking at a fringe event titled “Health equals wealth: Labour’s plan for health and care”, Wes Streeting argued that health and wealth are inextricably linked. He said that the NHS required substantial investment, but repeated Lord Darzi’s diagnosis that you can’t invest more money without first addressing the more structural problems with the system.
On the penultimate day of conference, the Health Secretary demonstrated his “special relationship” with the Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle. Brain Tumour Research has always called for a cross-departmental approach to health, so this was pleasing to see. Mr Kyle spoke of their relationship as being “joined at the hip” and that their teams were completely integrated. This integrated approach offers potential for our brain tumour community.
In his conference speech, Streeting warned that the NHS was in crisis, and that his ten-year plan would save it. The Secretary of State said that the NHS had significant potential, but that it needs to prepare for the future. This includes exploring the potential for genomics and data to be used effectively to improve prevention and make health more personalised. He also spoke of the importance of needing to share data and adopt new technologies at scale, and of the benefits of AI in the NHS.
Minister for Public Health and Prevention Andrew Gwynne was another one busy doing the rounds. I managed to catch him at the Fit for the Future: Health Care for the 21st Century fringe. Mr Gwynne said that “the life sciences will have a massive role to play” in Labour’s mission-led government. Russell Abberley, acting president, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, emphasised the economic importance of clinical trials. He said that clinical trials supported 65,000 jobs across the UK, but that they have declined over the past years. Brain Tumour Research welcomed the recommendations of Lord O'Shaughnessy's Review and we look forward to these being implemented to improve the way clinical trials are set up and conducted in the UK.
I was grateful to meet with Health Minister Baroness Gillian Merron. Top of the agenda was the £40 million, which was allocated to research into brain tumours back in 2018. Six years on, only £12 million has been deployed. Brain Tumour Research is proposing a new collaborative approach with Government to ensure another six years are not wasted. Baroness Merron said she would discuss the matter with her colleague in the Health Team, Karin Smyth MP. It was also nice to speak with the MP for Edinburgh South West Scott Arthur. Scott’s father-in-law sadly passed away from a glioblastoma (GBM). He is urgently calling for allocated money to be spent on game changing brain tumour research.
Wes Streeting’s Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) Zubir Ahmed was very generous with his time. Amongst other things, we talked about how the UK currently lags behind in terms of research funding and speed of adopting new treatments. We also chatted about the commercial availability of emerging therapies in some European countries, which has led UK patients to self-fund – a topic which has been covered before at an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) meeting.
Last but not least, I spoke to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. You can read about our meeting here.
There are reasons for optimism, but it's clear that the road ahead isn't going to be easy. But together we can help drive things forward for the brain tumour community. As Siobhan McDonagh so aptly stated, at the Brain Tumour fringe: “We have the knowledge, we have the expertise and the scientists, and now we need to make brain tumours a priority”.
Next up is Conservative Party conference. We will of course bring you an update next week.
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Published Thursday 26th September 2024.