I welcome the recent statement from the Secretary of State for Health, Thérèse Coffey MP, outlining the Government’s ‘plan for patients’ and what it intends to do to tackle ongoing pressures facing the National Health Service, especially as we head towards the winter.
The plan will be achieved by prioritising ambulances, backlogs, care and doctors and dentists (the ABCDs). The aim is to improve patients’ access to GP practices, recruit additional support staff, give pharmacies powers to prescribe more medicines, and introduce better contact systems for GP practices.
When it comes to the challenges facing the health service, staffing is arguably the key issue. This is why I supported amendments to the, now, Health & Care Act that would have required the Secretary of State to publish regular assessments of workforce need across the NHS. This would make planning the workforce of the future, considerably easier.
As part of the plan, the government intends to change funding rules to recruit extra support staff, freeing up over one million appointments per year. By changing the funding rules, GP practices will be able to recruit additional support staff, such as GP assistants and advanced nurse practitioners – allowing GPs to focus on treating patients and freeing up over one million appointments per year. The reality is however, unless other recruitment rules and conditions are altered (e.g. ability to recruit from overseas) then it’s going to be a challenge to fill the gaps!
Whilst I welcome additional prescribing powers for pharmacists and the plans to expand the range of services available from community pharmacies, as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Access to Medicines & Medical Devices, I am fully aware that the issue is less about who is prescribing the medicines, and instead far more about an inequitable lack of access to drugs due to commissioning rules, that lead to a postcode lottery.
Unfortunately, we have a serious dental shortage in Devon, a situation that is replicated across most of the country. Under the plan, the government have already started changing the dental contract to incentivise dentists to do more NHS work and take on more difficult cases. Those dentists who can provide more NHS care will be able do so, through more proactive management of contracts by the local NHS and the reallocation of resource to willing providers.
From a provision point of view, it is crucial that the right incentives are in place so that patients get the care they need. The government have started by putting in place more targeted funding for dentists caring for patients with complex needs, who take longer to treat.
The proof on this, however, will be what exactly is in the new contract and whether it is workable for the current dentistry workforce.
I have been vocal in my opposition to the rise in national insurance that was packaged and sold as the ‘Health and Care Levy’. At the very least, it needed to be delayed, in order to assess the consequences of such a proposal. It’s also worth remembering that at the time it was announced, the whole point of the levy was to fund social care provision.
The problem was that there was no guarantee that much of the money would actually find its way to social care at all, but instead be swallowed up by the NHS. This proved to be the case! Therefore, I welcome the plan to introduce legislation to reverse this decision.
At a time of rising living costs, reversing the Levy delivers a tax cut for 28 million people, worth, on average, £330 every year. It will support individuals by allowing them to keep more of what they earn and will support businesses to pursue growth, invest and innovate. This is most welcome!
As always, if you would like to book a surgery appointment (in-person or virtual) or raise a specific issue, please call my office on 01626 368277 or email annemarie.morris.mp@parliament.uk to arrange an appointment.