Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Jun-Jul 2023 - number 162

Click on the picture above to read Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Jun-Jul 2023 - number 162

It's high time Government was held accountable for the crisis in mental health provision.

Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Apr-May 2023 number 160

Click on the picture above to read Sharon Hodgson MP's report - Apr-May 2023 number 160

Reforms to NHS Dentistry debate



Sharon Hodgson spoke in the Chamber on the state of our NHS dentistry system, after the Conservative double whammy of handing out a 8.5% price hike to everyone’s dental costs during the midst of the worst ever cost-of-living crisis – whilst also seeing the closure of the BUPA dental practice in Pennywell.

Everywhere you look you’re paying more and getting less under this Conservative Government.

We cannot accept that dental care becomes a luxury, available only to those who can afford it.

These are political choices being made by the Tory Prime Minister and his billionaire buddies, who have never had to worry about the cost of anything such as this, or understand the effect this record increase will have on the cost-of-living pressures facing ordinary people in the North East.

We need a Labour Government that will prioritise healthcare access for all, clean up 13 years of Tory under-funding and mismanagement, and abolish the Prime Minister’s precious non-dom status, to provide the treatment and dental care that the British people deserve.

We should not have to suffer because of Tory chaos and managed decline, that leaves dental care a luxury for the few.

ECHO COLUMN: Our NHS Dentistry is at breaking point

Tories are bulldozing workers' rights

Rare Disease Day provided opportunity to shine light on lesser-known conditions that need for highly specialised treatments.

This Tuesday was Rare Disease Day.

The 28th of February provided the opportunity for us to shine a light on conditions that are lesser known but carry with them complex symptoms and a need for highly specialised treatments.

Patients are paying the price for 13 years of Conservative mismanagement of the NHS.

Yesterday, my colleague Wes Streeting MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, made a scathing assessment of the Conservative Government’s record with our NHS.

The doctor can’t see you now – 15% of people across the North East and North Cumbria who try to make a GP appointment don’t get one, whilst 59,947 are forced to wait over a month.

Labour will sort out backlog and put patients at core of NHS.



When my constituent Adam (his name has been changed to protect his privacy) asked for an appointment with a doctor, he was made to wait three months. At the consultation he was told he needed a full hip replacement and that he would have to wait another nine months for a surgery date. Six months later, he called the hospital to ask when that date might be. The hospital told him that he would have to wait a further twelve months.