Justin Meets With Chief Executive Of The Great Western Hospital

Justin Tomlinson MP has met with the Chief Executive of the Great Western Hospital Nerissa Vaughan and Kevin McNamara, Director of Strategy and Community Services for the GWH NHS Trust.

The meeting was to provide an update on local healthcare provision as well as future plans to expand the hospital and provide more emergency care & rehabilitation facilities. Justin stays in regular contact with the team at the GWH NHS Trust and often raises individual casework and concerns from local residents.

The Government has invested record amounts into the National Health Service, spending more than £110 billion on health this year & more than half a trillion pounds over the next 5 years. The Prime Minister has also confirmed that above inflation increases in NHS funding will continue well into the next decade, with investment set to rise by almost £400 million a week by 2023.

Locally this record funding means the Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire healthcare area (covering hospitals and primary care including the GWH) will receive £1.4 billion. Between 2015/16 and 2020/21, this funding is expected to rise on current plans by £242.3 million – an increase of 19%. This means that there are 156 more doctors and 472 more nurses at the GWH, and the hospital is able to perform 11,000 more operations & 17,000 more diagnostic test each year than in 2010. New Government funding will also allow the South Western Ambulance Service (SWAS) to purchase 63 new ambulances.

Also discussed were the plans to bring a Radiotherapy Centre to Swindon, a campaign that Justin has been involved with from the beginning after gaining approval for the project from NHS England thanks to lobbying from the North Swindon MP who also wrote to the Health Secretary.

Justin Tomlinson MP said: "I regularly meet with clinicians and senior leaders from the GWH to hear their ideas and feed in concerns raised by fellow local residents. Our record funding for the NHS is ensuring the GWH is expanding and able to treat more patients than ever. I was particularly pleased to hear about progress on the new radiotherapy centre which will significantly improve access to cancer treatment for people in Swindon."