If the NHS is to continue to be the health service the public overwhelmingly wants and are proud of – one which provides high quality care for patients, free at the point of need – it needs a robust and effective plan to ensure we have the right number of people, with the right skills and support in place to be able to deliver the kind of care people need.
- More GPs and nurses: The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan is pivotal: a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put staffing on a sustainable footing and improve patient care. It will help to address the GP shortage and I’ll work closely with the East and North Herts NHS Trust supporting the Lister’s application for teaching status, bringing more GPs and nurses to the area.
- Making it easier to get an appointment: sometimes its hard to get an appointment because the reception staff are overwhelmed by the volume of calls. New phone systems have or are being installed so you are placed in a digital queue, will know your place in the queue, and can request a call back so you don't have to wait on the phone. I'll push for further innovation, such as using trained ambulance call-centre staff, which is being piloted in London.
- Getting your tests and appointments closer to home: I will work to deliver care closer to residents through diagnostic hubs and a satellite radiotherapy unit
- Better maternity care: as a mum, I know how much good maternity care matters. It's not just about the care you get in hospital but support during your pregnancy, and those early months after you give birth. Too often a curtain is drawn over mothers' experiences, and we need to tackle that. I'll continue the fight for an overhaul of the UK's maternity and postnatal care.
- A world-class cancer hospital and children's hospital: To ensure local residents receive first class care, next year work begins on the new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital to be built through the New Hospitals Programme. With cancer rates rising, the Hospital will help provide a radical new way to tackle the cancer and provide first rate care for our region. Work on the Cambridge Children's Hospital will also start next year with the building expected to open in late 2028.
- Better support for parents of sick children in hospital for extended periods: Continuing Sir Oliver Heald's work, I'll do everything possible to help constituents Ceri and Frances and their charity 'It's Never You' secure 'Hugh's Law' providing more financial support for parents of sick children when their child is in hospital for an extended period. Good progress was made prior to the election, and I hope all candidates will join with me in offering Ceri and Frances their full support in getting things moving again after the election whatever the outcome.
Underpinning all of this is a need to work as a team and keep bringing different bits of the system together. We have a complex patchwork of Integrated Care Boards and Foundation Trusts covering North East Hertfordshire, and that can mean that those in Royston and the surrounding area, have a very different experience from other parts of the constituency. I'll work to ensure everyone has a consistently good experience of using our NHS.