My top priority when I stood for election to be Wokingham’s MP was to help fix our broken NHS. Whether it is the Royal Berkshire Hospital, the difficulty accessing local GPs, NHS dentistry or more, local people know how bad things are and they were asking me to help them. Here is an update on some of what I have been doing.
Last week I met with the Health Secretary, Rt Hon. Wes Streeting MP, and Karin Smyth MP who is a Minister in the Health department. Both assured me that the Royal Berkshire Hospital rebuild is recognised as a necessity and that they remain committed to it, along with the 24 other new hospital projects which were put under review. The review of the New Hospitals Programme is looking at scheduling and funding of these projects and we will hear more immediately after the budget on 30 Oct. I stressed to the Secretary of State the urgency of the Royal Berks project, not least due to the potentially lengthy delays that would follow were we not able to secure one of the 2 potential sites. I was delighted that Lib Dem MPs from Newbury and Henley made the same point in our call. I’d like to remind constituents that under the last Conservative governments of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak the new hospital building programme was an election stunt which the Conservatives never properly funded. They also moved the original completion date from 2030 to 2036-7 at the earliest. Local Conservative politicians have still not apologised for misleading residents about the new hospital building programme.
I also met with a panel of local GPs last week to hear their views on the challenges facing general practice in the Wokingham Constituency. We talked about the organisational and funding constraints on group practices and their capacity. They told me that, historically, additional GPs would be funded when patient to GP ratios exceeded 1,750, based on an understanding that patient care could suffer at ratios of more than 2,000. Currently, in our area, patient to GP ratios are typically around 2,800. There are newly qualified GPs seeking their first role and experienced GPs willing to take on additional work, but the funding provided does not allow GP practices to hire them. Facilities, such as consulting rooms, can also be a limiting factor for some practices, with investment to expand impossible to get. The new government needs to work with NHS England, clinical professionals and the Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Buckingham Integrated Care Board to remove obstacles to expanding and setting up GP practices.
In Parliament last week I asked the Minister of State for Care, who looks after general practice, how we get new GP surgeries in places such as Arborfield Green, which already has 10,000 residents with more moving in every month, but no local GP provision there or in the closest villages. With the NHS starved of funding by the previous government, this need has been ignored for too long. The Minister, Stephen Kinnock, said he recognised the issue and he agreed to meet with me to discuss it in more detail.
It will not be easy to get a new GP surgery, but I am determined with my councillor colleagues to try and make this happen. I would really appreciate your help by signing my petition at www.wokinghamlibdems.org.uk/arborfieldgp.
If you want to contact me about these, or other issues, my email address is [email protected]
Clive Jones is the MP for Wokingham
