Protecting the NHS

I am absolutely committed to ensuring our NHS remains free at the point of use. I know how important the NHS is to families in Reading because it is just as important to me and my family.

I have always supported and promoted the great work that NHS doctors and nurses do.

I have championed the Royal Berkshire Hospital when it has succeeded - for example, the wonderful cardiac unit. When constituents have raised issues I have sought to support it and help the NHS learn lessons.

We’re delivering a more efficient and effective NHS by:

·      Reducing bureaucracy to pay for 9,000 more doctors and 7,000 more nurses on wards – so frontline services deliver for you and your family

·      Making services more efficient for patients – the number of people waiting more than a year for treatment is down by 98 per cent

·      Launching a new Cancer Drugs Fund, which has already helped more than 60,000 people

The continued investment in the NHS has been something I have been particularly proud of. If re-elected this increased funding will continue with real terms increases in spending every year.

In Reading alone there are 70 more doctors and 258 more nurses compared with 2010. This has meant that nearly 9,000 more people were seen at A&E in 2013/14 compared to before the last election. We have also seen more tests for a variety of illnesses and increased cancer treatment statistics.

In the midst of this growth in the NHS and staffing numbers we have also seen more compassionate, safe care as C-Difficile infection rates have more than halved since 2010.

I am also proud of my campaign and intervention on GP surgeries in Woodley. Local people came to me with their concerns and I was happy to organize a public meeting where local peoples’ views could be heard by NHS management.  This process also secured commitments to move towards online appointment booking and extra phones and staff to manage telephone bookings. 

See the update report on Woodley GP Practices published in July 2015 for full details of the improvements that followed the meeting. There are now 6 more GPs working in Woodley and better booking facilities by phone and email.

We’re backing the NHS by working through our long-term economic plan – we know that you can’t improve our health service without having a strong economy to support it.