Kate Osborne MP: Postcode should not come into fairer access to NHS-funded IVF

Just three weeks ago, I underwent a second operation on my back. I’m incredibly grateful to the NHS staff who looked after me, from the clinicians who treated me to everyone involved in my care and my recovery. Experiencing the NHS as a patient is a powerful reminder of just how much we all rely on it, and how important it is that we protect and improve it.

That’s why the Health Bill, which we debated in Parliament this week and which I spoke on in the Chamber on Tuesday, matters so much to me.

The NHS is one of our country's – and indeed the Labour Party’s – greatest achievements. Yet here in Jarrow and Gateshead East, people still die younger and spend more of their lives in ill health than people elsewhere.

Far too often, access to healthcare depends on your postcode. That postcode lottery is stark in a number of areas, but nowhere more so than in fertility treatment.

So during the debate and as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fertility, I was pleased to add my support to an amendment calling for fairer access to NHS-funded IVF.

I have raised this issue with Ministers repeatedly because it simply isn’t right that your access to treatment can depend on your postcode, your circumstances or the type of family you want to build.

Just yesterday I chaired a roundtable with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fertility and heard from organisations such as Fertility Action and people with expertise and lived experience to discuss what more can be done. I’ll keep pushing Ministers to ensure that every Integrated Care Board, at the very least, follows NICE guidance on access to IVF and fertility treatment.

Fertility care is healthcare, and fair access should not be a postcode lottery.

That same principle has been at the heart of my wider work on the Health Bill.

Working with the National AIDS Trust, I submitted amendments to the Health Bill to strengthen the role of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in neighbourhood health planning and NHS commissioning.

From the earliest years of the HIV and AIDS epidemic, voluntary and community organisations have played a vital role in prevention, testing, peer support, tackling stigma and supporting people living with HIV.

My amendments set out the importance of local authorities and Integrated Care Boards taking reasonable steps to involve these organisations meaningfully in the development of neighbourhood health plans, and allow ICBs to prioritise Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise organisations where they are best placed to deliver services.

I was grateful for Ministers’ engagement with the proposals, and confirming to me in advance of the debate that Neighbourhood Health and ICB Commissioning Frameworks should be developed with wider partners, including the voluntary community and social enterprise sector.

I was also pleased to support work around special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). I have long campaigned for better SEND provision, and I remain particularly concerned that too many disabled children are not receiving the support they are legally entitled to through their Education, Health and Care Plans. Families shouldn’t have to fight to get support that has already been promised to them.

Placing a clear duty on Integrated Care Boards to provide services identified within the health element of an EHCP would help relieve pressure on councils while giving families a clearer route to hold ICBs to account.

I’ve also supported amendments to provide better support for families when a child is diagnosed with cancer or another life-threatening condition. When a child becomes seriously ill, the whole family is affected – and our NHS should recognise that.

These issues might appear different, but they are connected by one simple principle – where you live should not determine whether you receive the healthcare and support you need.

Whether it’s fertility treatment, SEND support, HIV services or care for seriously ill children, your postcode should not decide whether you get the help you need.

It is a good sign that our Government now has a proper 10-Year plan for health, and I look forward to continuing my constructive work with them as we repair the damage done to our NHS by Tory austerity, and build a health service that is more focused on prevention, earlier intervention and

tackling health inequalities.

Away from the Chamber, I’ve continued meeting constituents and organisations about issues relating to Jarrow and Gateshead East as well as hosted an important meeting for MPs with SEND Matters Coalition who do brilliant work campaigning for reform that puts children and families first, improves outcomes, protects children’s legal rights and ensures that no child loses access to the specialist support and learning environment they need.

With 20.2% of pupils in Jarrow and Gateshead East receiving SEN support, it is a priority of mine to make sure any SEND reforms introduced by the Government are meaningful and improve outcomes for children and their families.

And this weekend, I’ll be back in the constituency for the Great North Run. It is one of those brilliant occasions that celebrates our region - bringing together runners, volunteers, families, charities and thousands of spectators.

I’m also incredibly proud that my Senior Caseworker, Keith, is taking part in the run, all to raise money for the Gateshead Health Charity paediatric department and I can’t wait to see him at the finish line.

As ever, if there is an issue you think I should be raising in Parliament, please do get in touch via [email protected]. Listening to constituents and making sure their concerns will always be at the heart of everything I do.