In his latest column, High Peak's Conservative MP Robert Largan writes about the current pressures the NHS is grappling with.

The NHS has saved my life twice. I will always fight to defend it and it’s guiding principles: that it is universal and free at the point of use. 

Across Europe, healthcare systems – still recovering from the pandemic – struggling with large backlogs in routine and elective treatments are simultaneously battling the remnants of Covid-19 and an early, virulent winter flu. This is being compounded by rapidly ageing populations, which puts growing pressures on hospitals and care systems, as more people need long-term care. 

The situation in Labour-run NHS Wales is particularly poor, with ambulance response times at a record low. 

Substantial extra money is being put into the NHS. Despite difficult financial circumstances, NHS investment has increased every year since 2010. In real terms, NHS budgets have increased by £45.5 billion. On top of this, the NHS will receive an extra £500 million this year, £600 million next year and £1 billion the year after. 

But money alone will not fix the underlying causes of the NHS’s current difficulties. Since the foundation of the NHS, our population has aged, and medicine improved significantly. Urgent reform is needed. 

I welcome the Government’s plan for recovering elective care and clearing long waiting lists for treatment. This plan will allow the NHS to perform at least nine million extra tests, checks and procedures by 2025. 

It will also deliver year-on-year improvements in A&E waiting times and improve access to general practice, so that everyone who needs an appointment with their GP practice can get one within two weeks, and those who need an urgent appointment can get one on the same day. 

Over 50 new surgical hubs will open across England, providing at least 100 more operating theatres and over 1,000 beds. This will allow hundreds of thousands more patients to have quicker access to vital procedures and help tackle the care backlog. 

The Government is also introducing minimum staffing levels to improve patient safety. This new legislation will allow the Government and the NHS to plan properly for the running of services in times of strike and bring the UK into line with many countries across the world such as France and Spain. Bizarrely, the Labour Party are opposing this important legislation to ensure minimum safety levels. 

By working together, we’ve had a lot of success locally, securing a £30.2 million new Emergency Care Campus at Stepping Hill Hospital and a £16.3 million new Urgent Care Centre at Tameside Hospital. In Buxton, I am working with the local NHS to deliver a new major health centre. We’ve also secured a new mental health unit at Tameside Hospital and a new women’s unit is currently under construction at Stepping Hill. We also successfully campaigned to reinstate the local breast cancer mobile screening unit to High Peak. 

These are difficult times for health services across Europe. Whatever happens, I will always fight to defend the NHS!

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