A very important part of my job as a local MP is to make sure that our NHS is delivering really good care for local people. We are fortunate to have a very well regarded Luton and Dunstable Hospital as well as dedicated GP’s and community health staff. Of course from time to time things go wrong, as they do in any organisation and I am always available to my constituents to take up any particular concerns they may have.
I have raised concerns in the past about aspects of orthopaedic care at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital and I believe that improvements have been made since then.
There were concerns before last winter that our accident and emergency departments would not be able to cope but it is very good news that A&E targets have been met both for the last quarter and for the last year as a whole despite there being over 100 more admissions each week since the previous year.
On average, waiting times in A&E have fallen from more than 70 minutes under the last government to 30 minutes now.
Our A&E departments are treating on average 2000 more people every day within four hours compared to what happened before 2010.
Across the whole of the NHS 800,000 more operations have been carried out every year under this government and at the same time mixed sex wards have been virtually eliminated and hospital infections halved. In addition, waiting times are lower at 18, 26 and 52 weeks than at any time under the last government. Many patients have also benefitted from the new Cancer Drugs Fund.
The reforms which we have introduced are enabling £1 billion in back office savings to be redirected into front line care enabling 1,700 more nurses and 7,000 more doctors to be employed.
The government is determined that the lessons of the Mid Staffordshire Hospital scandal will be learnt.
We know have a Chief Inspector of Hospitals who has put 14 hospitals in special measures.
These hospitals are being turned around. MORI polling shows that the number of people who feel they are being treated with dignity and respect by the NHS has gone up by 10% to the highest level ever.