Health minister Karin Smyth was accused of engaging in “party political knockabout” in the House of Commons yesterday during an intense debate on the impact her government’s national insurance hike is expected to have on pharmacies and other care providers. 

The debate, triggered by an urgent question from GP and Conservative MP Luke Evans, heard that “a raft of frontline care providers” including GP surgeries, pharmacies, care homes and hospices feel at risk of closing after learning they will not be exempt from the hike to employers’ NI contributions and the lowering of the threshold from £9,100 to £5,000 from next April. 

“Many in the health sector will have been pleased to hear the announcement of the extra funding for the NHS only for their joy to be struck down by the realisation that a manifesto promise not to raise national insurance contributions had been broken,” said Dr Evans, who brought up the results of the National Pharmacy Association’s vote on collective action.

“More importantly, will the Minister lay out a concrete timetable for hospices, care homes, GPs, pharmacists and all other allied health professionals, who are making decisions now? This seems to be another example of a big headline from the Labour party but no detail.”

Ms Smyth, who was a manager at a clinical commissioning group before entering politics, said she was “dumbfounded” by this criticism, adding that Dr Evans “knows the state of the NHS that we inherited from the previous government”. 

She commented: “The chancellor took into account the impact of changes to national insurance when she allocated an extra £26bn to the Department of Health and Social Care. 

“There are well-established processes for agreeing funding allocations across the system and we are going through those processes now with this in mind.” 

Labour will “go through the allocation of additional funding in the normal process, which will be faster than under the previous Government,” she added.

When quizzed by Liberal Democrat MP Lee Dillion on the fate of pharmacies under the new tax rules, she replied: “I remember from when I became an MP in 2015 the changes that the previous government made to the pharmacy contract and I am aware of the precarious situation that pharmacists have been in.”

After Ms Smyth on several occasions referred to the ‘recklessness’ of the Conservatives with regard to the NHS, Conservative MP Nick Timothy said: “I do not think the minister understands that she is not just engaged in some party political knockabout with Conservative Members – GPs, hospices, care homes and pharmacies are watching this debate and are looking to the minister for answers.” 

Ms Smyth rejected these accusations, commenting: “We understand the pressures that the sector is under. We understand the mess that we inherited, and we are fixing it.”

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