You don’t need me to tell you the state our NHS was in last summer. Record waiting lists, doctors on strike, buildings falling apart, mental health services at the brink of collapse, near impossible to get a GP appointment or find an NHS dentist. We were dangerously close to the NHS ceasing to exist as a publicly funded service, free at the point of use. I was elected as your MP and Labour were put in government on a promise to fix the mess left behind by the Conservatives in our NHS.
We’ve made really good progress nationally and locally to start that work with our first steps over the last 12 months. Nationally, we’ve created 4 million extra appointments against a target of 2 million. Waiting lists are down, we’ve recruited 1,900 more GPs and 6,700 more mental health workers. We’ve pumped money in to create more urgent dental appointments and started reforming the NHS dental contract. And we’ve injected £26 billion extra into the NHS for day to day spending this year, with £29 billion extra coming next year and every year up to 2030. Record investments.
Locally, waiting lists for treatment in north and west Cumbria are down 7%. We’ve got a new Urgent Dental Access Centre based in Whitehaven seeing 140 patients a week. GP practices in Whitehaven and Workington have been given funding to expand their clinical space to create over 4,000 new GP appointments every year and GP numbers are slowly increasing. A new 24/7 community mental health hub will open soon in Whitehaven – one of only six in the country. I’m pleased to have secured a new clinical pathway for cancer patients attending A&E at West Cumberland Hospital. And I’m working to transform primary care in Workington with a new Neighbourhood Health Centre.
This is a great start, but there is much more to do. Last week the government took the next step, laying out a Ten Year Plan to get our NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future.
The plan lays out an ambitious agenda, ensuring we’re not just spending more money and hoping that will improve things. It aims to give patients more power by delivering three big shifts in how the NHS works: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. And it will tackle some of the enduring health inequalities plaguing our country, making sure that those in working class communities like ours are no longer served last.
If we seize the opportunities provided by new technology, medicines, and innovation, then we can deliver better care for all patients – no matter where they live or how much they earn – and better value for taxpayers.
Josh MacAlister MP 