NHS

THE last couple of months have, sadly, shown us the NHS and social care systems struggling once again. But we can no longer describe this as a ‘Winter Crisis’ as it has been ongoing for multiple seasons. Even during the summer months people in Bristol South were experiencing delays.

As a former NHS manager, you won’t be surprised to hear that the future of the NHS and social care is at the forefront of my mind. What we are seeing now is a collapse in the service’s ability to provide the high quality care we all need and each and every nurse, doctor, paramedic and porter wants to deliver. This is happening because of nearly 13 years of neglect and mismanagement by the Government. From top-down reorganisations in the early

2010s, underfunding and a chronic loss of staffing in recent years, we have witnessed the service being pushed to breaking point.

The pandemic exacerbated problems, that’s true. But the underlying issues were already there to be found in every hospital department, community service and GP practice. For the Royal College of Nursing to take industrial action for the first time in their history should have set off alarm bells with the Government, but was ignored. When staffing levels became so dangerously low the government created a cocktail of chaos where patients were left waiting and NHS professionals’ faced burnout. The current Health Secretary should have acted, but he didn’t.

As we look forward to 2023, we should be in no doubt that this is a totemic milestone in the NHS’s history. We all want it to succeed because we know what it has and can deliver: higher quality service free at the point of need.

I will be working with my colleagues in parliament, not only to hold the Government to account for their failings, but to put forward new ideas on how we can develop the NHS and social care system for the future. More investment, yes. But also, more use of new technology, new ways of working and a detailed workforce plan.

My experience within the NHS taught me that patients and each and every person who works within it has ideas to help the service improve. Please do share your thoughts with me as I believe that only by working together can we drive the lasting changes that will help the NHS and social care sector to thrive.

We can, and must, revolutionise how healthcare is delivered in the UK. We will all need to work hard to make this happen. Only then can we move away from never ending ‘Winter Crises’ and towards a system that can care for us all.