Many constituents have contacted me to express their concerns surrounding funding of the NHS.

As always when there’s a Tory government the NHS suffers. The Tories have cut investment in the NHS by £22bn – waiting times for A & E are growing, cancer targets have been missed for the last 3 years and in recent weeks the government has been sent stark messages from the frontline of our public services, including the Chief Executive of the NHS, warning that 5 million people will be left on waiting lists by 2020/21 if additional funding is not found in this Budget.

A quarter of nurses are forced to take a second job just to be able to make ends meet yet this Government’s plans will mean per head NHS spending is due to fall next year. For many who have dedicated their lives to public service and our NHS, the strain is becoming too much to bare. They feel they have no alternative but to leave the profession and the combination of cuts and Brexit uncertainty means the NHS now faces the worst recruitment crisis in its history. Our public services cannot function without staff, and they cannot function well unless those staff are properly rewarded – that’s why Labour are calling on the Chancellor to end the public sector pay cap right across the health service. 

A Labour Government would invest £30 billion in the NHS over the next Parliament. This would allow us to guarantee that all patients can be seen in A&E within the four hour waiting time target and guarantee access to treatment within 18 weeks – reducing the waiting list for surgery by over a million.

Please be assured my Labour colleagues and I are doing all we can to call on the Government to use next week’s Budget to give the NHS the real terms increase in funding it desperately needs.

Please do not hesitate to contact me again.