Biography
Dame Siobhain McDonagh has engaged extensively on health topics through 35 debate speeches, with a particular focus on cancer research and treatment innovation, particularly regarding brain tumours and rare cancers where she has advocated for increased clinical trials and government intervention to overcome market failures. She has also raised concerns about NHS service pressures, including A&E capacity at St Helier hospital and the temporary closure of maternity services for emergency repairs. Her contributions reflect both constituency-specific healthcare issues and broader policy advocacy on medical innovation and cancer outcomes.
Generated from their own Hansard record, below
“A number of constituents who work as nurses in the A&E department at St Helier hospital asked me to come to see for myself what they were dealing with. They asked me to come late on a Monday morning, rather than a Saturday or Sunday night as I had anticipated. What I saw was deeply troubling.”
Record by topic
- Cancer15th of 62266.0
- Mental health290th of 88012.0
- Palliative & end of life care125th of 56812.0
- Rare diseases46th of 2026.0
- Assisted dying116th of 3716.0
- Learning disability & autism654th of 8993.0
- Maternity & neonatal238th of 4383.0
- A&E & ambulance response107th of 2583.0
- NHS waiting lists323rd of 5343.0
- Children's health56th of 1573.0
- Dementia108th of 2513.0
- Health inequalities135th of 2883.0
- Hospital discharge / bed-blocking41st of 1393.0
What they’ve said
“St Helier hospital has the fourth best maternity unit in the country, the only exclusively NHS-run assisted conception unit in south-west London, and a specialist gynaecology ward where nurses are highly trained in counselling. Yet all that is set to close next May because of the need for emergency repairs.”
Business of the House · 2026-07-02 · Read on Hansard ↗
“I thank the Petitions Committee and my friends from Brain Cancer Justice, who I affectionately think of as the provisional wing of the all-party parliamentary group on brain tumours. In July last year, we launched Margaret’s trial at University College London hospital.”
Brain Cancer · 2026-06-15 · Read on Hansard ↗
“…In few areas are the consequences of that slowness felt more acutely than in rare and aggressive cancers. Since losing my wonderful sister Margaret to glioblastoma —the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40—I have worked closely with clinicians and researchers searching for a cure.”
Backing Business to Create Economic Growth · 2026-05-18 · Read on Hansard ↗
“At 2 pm today, many Members of this House will be attending the funeral of our dear friend Phil Woolas, the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth from 1997 to 2010, who passed away from a glioblastoma brain tumour on 14 March.”
Topical Questions · 2026-04-14 · Read on Hansard ↗
“I have met Moderna, a leading company in developing cancer vaccines. I asked if it would give University College London a cancer vaccine for free for a trial on glioblastoma brain tumours, but it refused. Its excuse was that it could not make enough of the drug for 16 people.”
Brain Tumour Survival Rates · 2026-02-09 · Read on Hansard ↗
Contributions reproduced under the Open Parliament Licence.