Articles and Speeches

Trusting NHS Professionals
17-Nov-06, Windsor Express Article.

We're relatively fortunate in Windsor, Ascot and the Sunnings when it comes to Healthcare.

Over the last three years, my many tours and visits to our local hospitals have reassured me that we have some of the most professional healthcare staff in the country. Our doctors, nurses, consultants and support staff are dedicated and hard-working despite the endless bureaucracy and form filling that often ties their hands.

But it is not all rosy. As the MP I regularly hear from concerned residents who have had trouble with waiting lists or getting an appointment to see their GP or consultant. It is incredibly frustrating but unsurprising when there have been 10 major reorganisations of the NHS since 1997! And sadly, many of the billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money that has been poured into the NHS has been wasted on bureaucrats, target-setters and Department of Health officials rather than spent on the front line services where it is needed.

It is all too easy to blame local hospital managers who often come in for criticism in the media, but it is important to recognise the pressure placed on them by endless government targets and reorganisations. For example, our local hospital managers are not even told what their budgets will be until several months into the financial year. I am surprised that they manage to remain motivated and I commend them for doing so.

For the sake of all of us, it is time for a change of government; not just to stop the waste of taxpayers money on ill-thought out initiatives, but so that the NHS can be safe in the hands of a future Conservative government which will not meddle and interfere in its daily running, but will trust our healthcare professionals to get on with their vital work on which we all rely.