As January comes to an end and the days start to get brighter, the NHS remains under strain from what has been another testing winter, and the overhanging pressure from the pandemic.
We had positive news last week that ambulance waiting times outside emergency departments fell to their lowest level this winter, and admissions to hospital with flu are down a third week-on-week. This means our hardworking ambulance crews and paramedics can deliver patients to hospital more quickly and there will be more beds available once they get there.
It would not be right to ignore the continuing impact of a once-in-a-century pandemic on our healthcare system or misrepresent the NHS as an outlier. Many countries have had a very difficult winter, with Italy suffering under their highest flu rate in 15 years, France facing a "sense of endless crisis" according to President Macron, and the Republic of Ireland seeing ambulance delays and hospital overcrowding.
The Prime Minister made falling NHS waiting lists one of his five immediate priorities and additional investment of £3.3 billion this year and next will enable rapid action to improve emergency, elective and primary care performance. I am proud that the NHS has been consistently prioritised, with investment increasing every year since 2010.
Equally important will be the introduction of reforms to improve performance over the longer term. Part of this must be implementing innovative solutions for prevention and early intervention. This is the future of our NHS, and I was delighted that Grantham was one of the first places to receive a Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) when the new facility on Gonerby Road opened in May last year.
CDCs have a focus on diagnostic services, with capacity for x-rays, ultrasounds, and to support the delivery of treatments for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. This means fewer hospital visits and reduced waiting times for patients, so hospitals will have more resources available to focus on patients requiring urgent care. I have already seen first-hand how this fantastic facility provides access services more quickly and easily, 7 days a week, for local residents.
Healthcare needs are interconnected, so a CDC anywhere is a help to patients everywhere. But it is also important that we ensure that access to these facilities is available across the constituency and the country.
In another welcome innovation, the Government has committed to expanding the services available from community pharmacies, such as the powers to prescribe medication where it makes sense, freeing up an estimated 2 million GP appointments for GPs to support patients with more complex needs.
The future of the NHS must include taking these sensible and innovative solutions across the board, and I continue to work with local NHS leaders to see a real improvement of services in our area.
