Health and social care Services are on the brink
This year we celebrated the 70th birthday of our wonderful National Health Service, and I was delighted to join some of our dedicated NHS staff in Birmingham to celebrate . Our doctors, nurses and clinicians are there for us when we need them most and it’s vital that we give them the funding they need and deserve. The chronic underfunding of the NHS by the Tories over the past 8 years has pushed up A&E waiting times, put huge pressures on staff and in some cases, endangered lives.
Adding to this, the necessity to fully integrate health and social care services is becoming evermore apparent. Our population is ageing and it’s essential that people are able to access good quality social care services rather than having to remain in hospital for prolonged periods of time. This is not merely about freeing up bed space in our hospitals – it’s about ensuring people across our communities have dignity in old age.
We’ve had the rhetoric form the Tories about creating an integrated health and social care system. But what have we had instead? Terrifying cuts to Birmingham City Council, putting further pressure on our local care services and dismal investment in our hospitals risking worsening the problem yet further. It’s clear that this Conservative Government has no vision for the long-term value of protecting our NHS and is instead hell-bent on pushing it to the brink, bringing in privatisation through the back door.
In our communities, we have yet to see any meaningful progress since. Theresa May said: “I will use all my power to transform mental health services”? Whilst invaluable work to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health is promising, yet again we’ve seen severe cuts to services which are struggling under increasing demand. Mental health services can be needed at short notice and it’s vital people have access to help when they need it most. Instead, we’ve got the dire situation where people are having to wait weeks or even months to access the support services they need. It is leading to a deeply troubling situation and, particularly when more and more people are feeling able to talk about their mental health issues, it is imperative that services are ready for them when they reach out.
I welcome the newly announced funding increase to the NHS but to claim this boost has come from a “Brexit dividend” frankly demeans Theresa May’s office. Given the financial uncertainty going forwards as we leave the European Union, I will be monitoring the NHS funding situation closely to ensure every penny that has been promised is delivered to our health service. It’s time for the government to prove how much it really cares about our NHS – it’s time for them to deliver a service we can all rely on long into the future.
