I very much welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement that by 2023-24 there will be an extra £20.5 billion pounds for the NHS, which is the equivalent of an extra £394 million per week. I shall be working hard to make sure that we get our fair share in North Yorkshire to support the hardworking staff in our hospitals and other health services who look after us so well.
I have campaigned long and hard for more money for our health services and would like to thank Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, for his willingness to listen and to press for a step-change in funding. Doctors and nurses at our hospitals in Malton, Scarborough, the Friarage in Northallerton, York and Easingwold and GP surgeries across the constituency have been stretched to their limit in recent times because of the increased demand on our health service as the population grows, gets older and is in need of greater and more complex care and treatments. The ten-year plan, announced by the Prime Minister to mark the NHS’s 70th anniversary, will ensure that every penny is well spent; it will tackle waste and reduce bureaucracy with savings going back into patient care. There will also be capital investment to modernize buildings and invest in the latest technologies.
I want to make sure that we keep services as local as possible so that patients don’t have to travel long distances for the care they need but can go to the hospital closest to their home and, where possible, care is provided in the local community
This new investment represents an increase of 3.4 percent in real terms from 2019-2020. It’s a significant sum and it is right and proper that taxpayers contribute a bit more in a fair and balanced way to support the NHS we all use. The Government will be listening to people’s views on how we can do this and I look forward to hearing more details from the Chancellor in due course.
The next step is to look at Adult Social Care which is clearly inextricably linked to healthcare spending. The select committee I sit on, Housing, Communities and Local Government, is currently holding a joint inquiry with the Health Select Committee into future funding of social care and will publish our report in the next 7 days. The Government will also bring forward proposal shortly in the form of a Green Paper. I look forward to working with parliamentarians across the House to deliver a long-term, sustainable solution.