MP highlights Chichester health care issues at Westminster

For their the first Opposition Day debate in the House of Commons for 15 years, the Liberal Democrat party, which has 72 MPs in Parliament, led discussions on the provision of care, and the NHS.

As the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on hospitals and primary care, Jess closed the debate by promising that she ‘will work constructively’ with the new government “to ensure that patients in Chichester and across the country get the care that they deserve.”

In her speech, Jess pointed out that “Our NHS was once the envy of the world. The care, compassion and accessibility that it offered were unparalleled. Sadly, after years of Conservative mismanagement, our NHS and care sector are in crisis. Every day, thousands of patients face agonisingly long waits, often in terrible pain, while trying to see a GP or get an appointment with a dentist.”

Lord Darzi’s report on the UK’s health service “highlights the fact that primary care services are heavily underfunded, which is leading to unnecessary hospital admissions,” Jess told the House.

With the Budget approaching, she reminded fellow MPs of the “clear economic benefits to investing more in primary care” pointing out that “every £1 spent in primary care is estimated to save £10 in urgent and secondary care.”

Although the Conservative Government promised 6,000 more GPs in 2019, GP numbers have fallen by almost 500 and GP practice funding has been cut by £350 million in real terms since 2019, said Jess, pointing out that “healthcare is not a luxury; it is a necessity.”

The Chichester MP also remined her fellow MPs about the recent collapse of a not-for-profit GP federation serving Chichester and the south coast which led to the cancellations of hundreds of appointments, the loss of services and 130 staff being unpaid.

Jess also highlighted dental care as another critical area within primary care. The Liberal Democrats are calling for a dental rescue package that includes investment in more dental appointments, reforming the broken NHS dental contract and using flexible commissioning to meet patient needs.

“We must reverse the Conservatives’ cuts to public health grants, in order to support preventive dental care, including oral health programmes and promoting healthy eating choices, which will reduce the pressure on our NHS dental services,” Jess told MPs across the House of Commons, adding that the government has “an opportunity to turn around a decade of Conservative chaos and mismanagement of our precious NHS and to give primary care the attention and focus it deserves.”

Motions put forward by the Liberal Democrats during the debate included asking for a full review of support for unpaid carers, the right for everyone to see a GP within 7 days (or 24 hours if urgent) and guaranteed emergency access to an NHS dentist. After the motions were voted down, Jess expressed disappointment with Labour MPs and Conservative MPs who opposed them or abstained.