King's Speech: Tom Gordon says health and care must be a priority of next parliament

Today (23rd July 2024), Tom Gordon MP is set to back Liberal Democrat amendment to the King’s Speech calling for the government to address the health and care crisis. 

This includes calls for a legal right to see a GP within seven days and a guarantee for cancer patients to start treatment within 62 days. 

This comes after shocking data revealed that 27% of cancer patients were not seen within 62 days in the Harrogate District Hospital Trust’s area in the financial year 2023-4. The total number of patients affected was 279. Nationally, data from the Office for National Statistics has found that 7% of those who tried to make contact with a GP practice didn’t manage to, the equivalent of 1.84 million people.

Almost one in five (18%) people who tried to contact their GP said it took two days or more to either book an appointment or receive a response from a clinician. This is equivalent to an incredible 4.7 million people waiting two days or more to hear back after contacting their GP.

The Liberal Democrat amendment to the Kings Speech will also be focusing on social care, calling for free personal care in England and a cross party commission to put the sector on a sustainable financial footing.

Commenting on the amendment, Tom Gordon said: 

“We have seen the NHS run into the ground over years of Conservative chaos, leaving millions waiting months or even years for vital treatment, holding back hundreds of thousands of people from getting back into work, thus further stifling our economy in already tricky times.

“It’s clear that if we can fix the NHS and care, we can start to rebuild the mess that the Conservatives have made of our economy.

“In Harrogate and Knaresborough cancer waiting times are far too high, and the struggles to see a GP are just as severe as any other part of the country. This needs to change – these are vital services and they must be restored to good health.

“During the election, the Liberal Democrats put health and social care at the heart of our manifesto. We will continue to push for our policies that millions of people voted for to be implemented, to tackle the ongoing health and social care crises, and kickstart the economy.”

ENDS

Full text of the Liberal Democrat amendment to the King's Speech:

‘but, while welcoming measures aimed at upholding standards in public life, which have been neglected under UK, Scottish and Welsh governments in recent years;

humbly regret that the Gracious Speech does not include sufficient measures to address the crisis in health and care, such as the introduction of a legal right to see a GP within seven days, a guarantee for cancer patients to start treatment within 62 days from urgent referral, free personal care in England, better support for carers, and a cross-party commission on social care; and calls on the Government to stop the scandal of sewage dumping against which the previous Government failed to take action, including by replacing Ofwat with a new regulator, to support families with the cost of living and tackle poverty, including by introducing a national food strategy, extending free school meals to all children in poverty, and by scrapping the two child benefit cap, and to ensure that rural communities and farmers receive adequate support, and to reform the system for parliamentary elections by replacing first-past-the-post with proportional representation, so that every vote counts.’