Invest in the NHS to keep it going for another 75 years

My dad often reminds me of the story of my great aunt who died in the 1930s, because the family were too poor to afford to go to the doctor. Of course, that was before the Second World War but it is reassuring to know today every citizen has access to healthcare, free at the point of need.

When Labour created the NHS no one could have imagined the incredible modern health service it would become.

We’ve all got memories of NHS staff – it’s not just doctors and nurses - going above and beyond.

We all know what an incredible sacrifice they made during the pandemic to keep us safe. But on the NHS 75th birthday it’s about time this government offered our health workers more than claps.

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Our NHS needs the tools to deliver a health service we can all rely on, because the sad truth is that today, all too often the NHS isn’t there when people need it because it simply doesn’t have the resources to cope.

My mum was a midwife, trained in Inverness and worked in the North of Scotland. She loved it. However, I was shocked to read last week that only 6% of midwives think their maternity unit has enough staff to do its job properly.

That statistic is from the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation, who run a Quality Watch programme, monitoring more than 150 indicators of care quality over time. They also state that it has become harder for patients to see a named GP. No surprise there! They don’t mention NHS dentists, but I think we all know how difficult it is to get an appointment with an NHS dentist.

Neil MacDonald outside Ipswich Hospital. (Image: Neil MacDonald)

Nationally, there are now 7.4 million people on the NHS waiting list – it just keeps growing. Locally, ESNEFT the health trust for East Suffolk and North East Essex has a waiting list of 85,584, which is creeping up.

Labour will create 7,500 more medical school places and 10,000 more nursing and midwifery clinical placements per year. A proportion of the new medical school places will be allocated to areas that are short of doctors, to address inequalities in access to healthcare – because one of the strongest indicators of where doctors practice is where they train.

I was also pleased to see pledges to train 700 more district nurses each year, 5,000 more health visitors and recruit thousands more mental health staff. With thousands more staff trained to join the NHS every year, the NHS will have both the doctors and nurses it needs in hospitals and the community-based staff it needs to provide care on people’s doorsteps.

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However, extra investment must be met with higher standards for patients and the state of the public finances means that reform will have to do more of the heavy lifting, and this is where Labour has been leading the charge.

Ipswich Borough Council (IBC) is already playing a part in this focus on prevention and has been working with the local NHS on measures to prevent people getting unwell in the first place.

As IBC is the largest fitness provider in town with five gyms, two pools, court hire and a variety of fitness classes, it is well placed to help keep people well. IBC has also been funded by the NHS to provide Social Prescribing, Primary Schools Activity Programme, improving park usage with “Park Gym” in various parks, physical activity for those with disabilities and fitness instructors trained to help people who have been referred to improve their health and wellbeing.

This investment and prevention strategy is what is needed to set up the NHS for another 75 years.