I have backed all the Government's measures to improve healthcare. In Essex, waiting lists are now falling, diagnosis times are improving and ambulance performance has improved. Huge investment is also being made at Southend, Basildon and Broomfield Hospitals. The Conservative policy to expand out of hospital care support will mean more GP appointments will be freed up to those who most need them, allowing thousands more people to be seen far quicker.
Rebecca Harris
The Conservative Government have been delivering our clear plan to secure the future of the NHS and I have supported all the measures introduced to cut waiting lists which have fallen by around 200,000 over the past six months and we have met our manifesto commitment to recruit 50,000 more nurses.
We are also delivering the first ever Long-Term Workforce Plan. This was a Plan asked for by the NHS and delivered by the Conservatives through £2.4 billion funding so we have an extra 60,000 doctors, 170,000 more nurses and 71,000 more allied health professionals in place by 2036/37.
Healthcare in Essex:
In our area, the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board has been allocated £2.27 billion for 2024/25. Waiting lists in South Essex are falling, diagnosis times for cancer patients are getting faster, A&E wait times are getting shorter and ambulance performance has improved. I have also welcomed the new £25 million surgical day unit at Southend Hospital and £110 million of further investment at Basildon, Broomfield and Southend hospitals. The day unit will offer a further 5,600 procedures a year. We also have new Community Diagnostic Centres opening in Southend and Pitsea which will be able to deliver hundreds more checks, appointments and scans.
But we must continue to take bold action by investing in more out-of-hospital care so that people don’t need to go to hospital in the first place.
That is why the Conservatives will:
- Deliver 10 million extra consultations through Pharmacy First by expanding which conditions pharmacists can treat patients
- Building and modernising 250 GP surgeries
- Opening 50 more Community Diagnostic Centres
Pharmacy First:
We will expand Pharmacy First to enable pharmacists to treat more common health conditions without patients needing to see a GP. 98% of pharmacies have signed up to the current Pharmacy First service which will free up 10 million GP appointments a year. We will now expand it so pharmacists can also offer menopause support and treat chest and skin infections, so that GPs can treat patients with other issues more quickly.
Funding:
The Conservatives will invest over £1 billion a year in these new services by 2029/30. This will be funded by cutting the number of managers in the NHS by 5,500 which will save £550 million and will bring the number back to pre-pandemic levels. We will also halve spend on consultancy across government to raise £640 million.
You cannot trust Labour with our NHS - Waiting lists in Labour-run Wales have reached a record high with around a quarter of the Welsh population now waiting to receive treatment, putting patients at risk.