This week we have seen real challenges facing both the NHS and our local Great Western Hospital. Despite the extra £700m made available, the huge increase in people who have attended A&E this Winter has been beyond any expectations. Here in Swindon, the GWH is experiencing its busiest time ever. A decision was taken to delay non-urgent operations at the GWH after a staggering 762 extra patients attended A&E in December, compared to last year. We need to look at why problems are arising and what we action must be taken.
We have an increasingly ageing population - there are 1 million more people aged 65 and over living in the UK than this time last year. This is why we were right to increase funding by £12.7bn – its highest ever total. We have recruited 8,000 newly trained doctors, 5,000 nurses and 1,200 A&E doctors, all helping to deliver an extra 1 million more operations a year. We must continue to prioritise NHS funding to match the ageing population and as the economy grows we will can continue to increase funding and rightly so.
The limited opening hours of GP surgeries often leave people with seemingly no choice but to use A&E out of hours. We are seeking to address this problem with an additional £1.2 billion funding to extend the GP surgeries opening hours. As I raised in Parliament we need to push for co-location of a GP Surgery within hospitals. Then, anybody who turns up at A&E who doesn’t need to be there, can be redirected to the surgery, thus alleviating the knock-on pressure.
Too often remaining in hospital is currently the only option for predominantly older and vulnerable people post treatment. We have to do more to improve our outpatient care. That is why from April 1st we will be investing £5bn on the Better Care Fund to bring together Health Authorities and Local Authorities to address this - an extra £12m in 2015/16 for Swindon alone, a vital step.
As your elected representatives and as local residents ourselves, Robert Buckland MP and I will continue to do all we can to support our fantastic local doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals.
Elsewhere we were all horrified to see the events in Paris unfold on Wednesday. Our thoughts and prayers are with the French people, and especially to those who lost their loved ones in the horrific terrorist attack. It was an attack against free speech, the heart of our democracies, and only make us more determined to unite as nations in a force of liberty to stand against extremism and tyranny. For that, they have simply made us stronger.
