Supporting our NHS

The NHS was a liberal invention, having been proposed by the Liberal politician William Beveridge. I have great admiration for its clinical and non clinical staff and I have been very lucky to meet many of these impressive professionals here in Wimbledon.

Liberal Democrats believe people should be in control of their own lives & health - that means everyone should get the care they need, when they need it, where they need it. 

Both locally and nationally, the NHS is facing serious financial & service delivery challenges which we must work to resolve to guarantee its future. Since becoming Member of Parliament in the summer of 2024 I have met with local health leaders to better understand the issues facing services critical to my constituents in key health centres in Merton, Kingston, Richmond,Wandsworth and Sutton. 

A significant amount of my casework is about access to health services. To mention a few areas, I have met with local charitable hospices with regard to national government funding cuts and with GPs both concerned about the increased costs arising from the  National Insurance increases announced in the Budget last year. In Parliament, I have delivered speeches on mental health, eating disorders, women's health & palliative care.

Recently I met with the Managing Director of the St George's, Epsom and St Helier Hospital Group (GESH). I am concerned the Trust is currently being required to make £95million of cuts. I have already successfully challenged their plans to  close the St Mary’s Minor Injury’s Unit in Roehampton and have also recently raised constituents' concerns about the potential closure of the Carmen birthing suite in Tooting which would limit birth choices for expectant mothers. Realistically I cannot challenge every potential cut being considered but will do my best to question those likely to be most damaging to my constituents' health outcomes. 

Instead of just spending money firefighting crisis after crisis, Liberal Democrats would invest now to save taxpayers’ money in the long-run.

Our plan will tackle the issues at both the front door & the back door to the NHS: investing in public health & early access to community services, including GPs, pharmacists & dentists, so fewer people need to go to hospital in the first place, and fixing the crisis in social care to stop so many people being stuck in hospital beds. This will bring down waiting lists, improve the quality of care and help people live longer, healthier lives.

Fixing the front door - primary care and public health

• Give everyone the right to see a GP within seven days, or within 24 hours if they urgently need to, via the recruitment of 8,000 additional GPs.
• Ensure everyone over the age of 70, and everyone with a long term condition has access to a named GP.
• End “dental deserts” and guarantee access to an NHS dentist - for everyone needing urgent and emergency care, ending DIY dentistry.
• Improve early access to mental health services, and address the huge delays to accessing treatment by establishing mental health hubs for young people in every community and introducing regular mental health check-ups at key points in people’s lives when they are most vulnerable.
• Help people to spend five more years of their life in good health by investing in public health. We’d reverse the Conservatives cuts to the public health grant since 2015, and establish a ‘Health Creation Unit’ in the Cabinet Office to lead work across government to improve the nation’s health and tackle health inequalities.

Fixing the back door - social care

• What’s disappointing is the Government is yet to announce meaningful reform on social care. Until we fix social care we won’t be able to end the crisis in our NHS. We simply cannot afford to wait for the Government’s reforms to come into force when so many are going without the care they desperately need.
• We are campaigning for cross party talks to move far more quickly. The Prime Minister should lead these talks and treat them with the seriousness and urgency they deserve. We are also calling for the government’s commission on social care to wrap up within a year so we can implement recommendations and end the crisis in social care, including through a fairer deal for family carers, before the next election.
• We support free personal care which would be a cost effective way of freeing up the 13,000 far more expensive hospital beds, blocked every day, by people who should no longer be there. 
• We are campaigning to recruit the carers we need through a higher carers’ minimum wage and a new Royal College of Care Workers to improve recognition and career progression.
• We’re campaigning for a fairer deal for family carers  - including the  guarantee of respite care, and paid carers’ leave. We’re also campaigning for more support for young carers in school by introducing a Young Carers’ Pupil Premium

The Liberal Democrats will continue to hold the Government to account to make sure there are strong safeguards in place to protect our NHS.