Newsletter November 2024

Is The NHS Broken?

Last week I attended the Royal College of GP’s annual conference in Liverpool. One of the speakers was Wes Streeting the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Repeatedly he and colleagues have referred to the NHS as ‘broken’ but is it? Certainly, it is not currently firing on all cylinders. Some areas seem to function well, others less so and all are under considerable strain. He did seem to have a good grasp of what is going on, appears to have some plans for change and in my view quite rightly wants to move ‘resources’ from hospitals to primary care. Plans for social care funding though remain unclear and the two are very clearly linked (particularly for our elderly and complex patients who really need to be kept out of hospital if possible but seem to end up in hospital rather too often). Many of our patients remain frustrated at waits to be seen, often for eminently treatable problems. This is particularly frustrating if it is keeping them off work which is something our new government appear to be keen to address. So, I was hearing all the right words from Wes, actions and delivery though may be challenging. Time will tell but what I would encourage our patients to do is contact our new local MP Michelle Welsh with any significant problems. Our MPs need to know what are going on locally and as she is part of the current government, she could have some influence. She can be contacted by email – michelle.welsh.mp@parliament.uk or write to her parliamentary office at, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.

Other matters to pass on; we are particularly keen to know who our veterans of military service are. A military veteran is defined as anyone who has served for at least one day in the armed forces (regular or reserve) or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. We recognised that service could bring challenges and under the terms of the Armed Forces Covenant, society has a particular duty of care for so called ‘Service Leavers’. Something to particularly note are the services ‘Operation Courage’ which can provide mental health support and ‘Operation Restore’ which can help with physical problems resulting from service. The former offers a self-referral option, the latter would need a referral in. We are a Veterans accredited surgery so please seek advice from someone here if needed.

Also a plug for the new 111 mental health support on offer. This offers DBI (Distress Brief Intervention) using local services. Support lasts up to 14 days and is available for anyone aged over 16. Ring 111 if that would be helpful.

Phil Rayner