This past week has certainly been eventful. For the NHS.
Whether it’s difficulty getting a GP appointment, or trouble finding a dentist, we’ve all been impacted by the workforce challenges facing the service, or we know someone who has.
That’s why the publication last week of a long-term workforce plan for the NHS is a huge step forward. It’s something that the cross-party Health and Social Care Committee, which I chair, has long been calling for.
For hard-working NHS staff who deliver health services across Winchester & Chandler’s Ford, and for patients and their families, the plan gives cause for hope. It is a foundation stone upon which to build the workforce of the future, and, with all the challenges our health service is facing, it couldn’t come at a more critical juncture.
Last summer, my Committee published a major report on workforce recruitment, training and retention in health and social care and I’m delighted that the Government has listened to many of our key recommendations.
We have repeatedly called for the publication of staff projections for the short, medium and long term, and I welcome the Government’s commitment to this in the workforce plan. It will be crucial in enabling health leaders to plan how they will meet future demands.
Ministers also listened to our call for a significant expansion in the number of medical school places; something I know will be hugely welcomed in our area.
Plans to double the number of places available to 15,000 and to boost the number of training places for GPs by 50% to 6,000 by 2031 are great news. A reduction in the time it takes to train a doctor, as the plan proposes, would also ease some of the pressures and bring us into line with many other countries. The pension reforms that we called for are also being pursued and I know from my mail bag this is positive for many consultants living here.
And of course, I welcome the focus in the workforce plan on prevention. The plan itself notes that rising demographic pressures and a changing burden of disease mean that demand in the health service is increasing. In short, demand continues to outstrip supply. It’s therefore critical that we respond to that by spending more time preventing people from becoming ill in the first place.
There are inevitably areas where I wish the Government had gone further, and specific issues that we need to explore in more detail. Overall, though, there is much to be excited about, and in the week of the NHS’s 75th anniversary, the plan provides grounds for optimism about shaping an NHS that is fit for the next 75 years.
And locally, we’ve honoured that birthday by securing £40m of capital investment to develop an elective hub and orthopaedic outpatient facility at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.
It will provide more capacity and allow more operations to take place therefore improving access to elective, planned surgery such as hip and knee replacements.
At the same time our Trust is also developing proposals to build a new outpatient facility, also in Winchester, specifically for orthopaedics. Scheduled to open in early 2025, this is part of the ongoing investment into services in the city. Winchester is heard in the corridors of power because that’s my job.
Finally, thank you to all those who’ve written since I announced I would not be standing again in Winchester at the next election. I suspect this Parliament has some way to go yet - so much still to do both here and in Westminster – but thanks for the kindness.
