Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who works at the RUH and other NHS providers across Bath. Their tireless contribution to the community is fantastic, appreciated and supports us all.
Working alongside the NHS for many years before entering Parliament, I have seen this issue spiral under Governments of all colours. I agree we must take action to resolve this for the long term sake of our NHS and I recently attended a Westminster Hall debate on budgets for Health and Social Care.
The NHS provides our country with the most valuable and vital services. Therefore, it is with great concern that I recognise that the NHS has been under sustained pressure with the number of people aged over 80 rising by 340,000, and life expectancy rising by 12 months in the last six years alone. As a result, the NHS is facing an unprecedented demand. However, I am confident in the Government’s ability to protect this vital service through an extremely challenging period and to ensure its future sustainability.
I am pleased to say that the NHS has made more extensive preparations this winter than ever before. There are now 11,800 more doctors in the NHS since 2010 and Health Education England projects increasing the supply of NHS staff by 80,000 by 2020. I am encouraged by the fact that there are over 7,000 fewer managers in the NHS as I know that it is a Government aim to ensure that frontline services are properly supported. To further support the NHS, an investment of £350 million was included in local Clinical Commissioning Group budgets in 2016/17 for resilience planning, and £50 million was made available for national initiatives. I am further reassured in the knowledge that the NHS has already secured the winter plans of every trust, launched the largest ever flu vaccination programme, and bolstered support outside A&Es with 12,000 additional GP sessions offered over the festive period.
As a consequence of this preparation and, most importantly, the hard work of frontline staff, the system overall is coping and even performing slightly better than last year. Earlier in December, for example, the NHS successfully treated a record number of patients within four hours. Compared with 2010, we are now seeing 2,500 more patients within the four hour standard every single day. I would also like to applaud the Government in its ambition to make it a safer, seven-day NHS which prioritises compassionate care for every individual. The introduction of seven day services, new patient rights to fundamental standards, a rigours Ofsted-style inspection system and a Special Measures regime to turnaround failing hospitals are all very welcome.
Though the NHS is an incredible system providing incredible services, it is important to recognise that there are a number of trusts where the situation has been extremely fragile. This issue has been made clear to the Government and myself, and I have since been reassured by the NHS England in its consideration of further measures to be taken forward on a temporary basis at the discretion of local clinical leaders. Taken together, these actions will give the NHS additional flexibility to take further measures if appropriate at a local level.
Despite tight public finances, it is right that the Government has actively continued to support the NHS' own plan for the future. Therefore, I am pleased to say that the Government will be providing the additional £10 billion of investment per annum in real terms by 2020/21 - compared to 2014/15 - requested to fund a transformation in care. Of this amount, approximately £6 billion will be delivered by the end of 2016/17. This will ensure that by 2020, everyone will be able to access GP services at evenings and weekends and it will enable the NHS to fund its own plan for the future, the Five Year Forward View. Further to this, the Government is giving local authorities additional funding and flexibility so that they will have access to an additional £3.5 billion by 2020, providing a real terms increase in social care funding by the end of this Parliament. This will ensure that spending on social care would have risen in real terms by the end of the Parliament and protect the most vulnerable in society.
With this in mind, I am confident in the Government’s recognition of the the current pressures facing our local areas, and thus, I am in full support of their actions. In full representation of our country and constituency, I will do everything in my power to ensure that the Government follows through on this commitment to our people.