Harrogate and Knaresborough MP writes to Health Secretary calling on govt to use pledged new investment in GPs for Harrogate and Knaresborough
Tom Gordon, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, has written to the Health Secretary Wes Streeting calling on him to use the pledged new money for primary care to invest in local GP surgeries after he announced the government would be redirecting billions to “fix the front door” of the NHS.
During the General Election campaign Tom Gordon said that funding was urgently needed for local health services with constituents saying that they were increasingly struggling to get urgent GP appointments.
The Health Secretary has promised to redirect billions into primary care to “fix the front door” of the NHS. The new Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, Tom Gordon, said that their constituents would not see any benefit of this unless local GP surgeries got desperately needed funding.
Alongside calling for much needed investment in local GPs, Tom Gordon has called for an Emergency Health and Care Budget to get urgent investment in the NHS which has been brought to its knees through years of the previous Conservative government’s neglect.
The Lib Dems have said that the Emergency Health and Care Budget should include measures such as free personal care for all those who need it, boost GP numbers by 8,000 and a significant increase to the number of cancer nurses.
Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, Tom Gordon, spoke to thousands of people over the campaign, and time and again the same story of not being able to get a GP appointment emerged. Tom Gordon and the Lib Dems have calculated that the Conservatives have cut GP funding by 6.9% per patient in real terms nationally since 2019, and by 7.6% in Harrogate and Knaresborough in the same period.
Tom Gordon said:
“The Conservatives have brought the NHS to its knees, and it is patients who have suffered. Our area cannot wait any longer for health services to be rescued.
“That’s why I have written to Health Secretary to ask him to promise that our area will get funding it needs.
“This comes in addition to our calls for a Emergency Health and Care Budget, which is needed without delay to get our health service back on its feet.”
ENDS
The text of the letter to the Health Secretary from Tom Gordon MP is below:
Department of Health and Social Care
39 Victoria Street,
London,
SW1H 0EU
16th July 2024
Dear Mr Streeting,
I am writing to you firstly to welcome you to your post as the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and secondly to impress upon you the need to save our local GP surgeries.
During the general election I spoke to thousands of people in Harrogate and Knaresborough and heard the same story over and over again. They told me of the long waits to see their GP and the 8am scramble to get an appointment.
Under the Conservatives local health services have been completely neglected, leaving too many of my constituents waiting in pain and distress. As you will know, the lack of access to GPs means more people are ending up in A&E or even needing an ambulance, putting undue pressure on the NHS.
As a Liberal Democrat I ran on a manifesto to save the NHS. On primary care we put forward ambitious plans to boost GP numbers by 8,000 and fix our crumbling GP surgery buildings.
I welcome the funding you have put forward to rebuild our GP practices. It is now critical that those resources reach Harrogate and Knaresborough if people are to feel the difference.
As well as funding for GPs, we desperately need an Emergency Health and Care Budget as soon as possible. If people are to receive the care they need, there must be urgent investment in the NHS which has been run into the ground by the Conservatives. This budget must include measures to end the crisis in social care, get people the cancer care they need, and boost the number of NHS dentist appointments.
I look forward to hearing from you urgently on this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Gordon MP
Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough