Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Mel Allcott has said that whatever the outcome of the election, health services in Worcester need urgent support. With waiting ambulances being reported at Worcester Royal to the closure of Farrier Street surgery, NHS services in Worcester are stretched beyond breaking point.
The Liberal Democrats have put saving the NHS at the heart of their manifesto, with bold and ambitious proposals to boost GP numbers by 8,000, end dental deserts, give patients a legal right to start cancer treatment within 62 days of urgent referral, increase the number of staffed hospital beds and to end excessive ambulance handover delays.
The Liberal Democrat manifesto has set out proposals for an extra £9 billion a year of spending on the NHS and care, paid for by asking banks and billionaires to pay their fair share. The new investment in the NHS and care would be funded through additional revenue raised by closing loopholes in Capital Gains Tax exploited by the ultra-wealthy and reversing the Conservative Party’s tax cuts for the big banks.
Mel Allcott said “Local health services are on their knees. A staggering number of people I talk to on the doorstep have their own stories of not being able to get a GP appointment, register with an NHS dentist, or having been forced to wait for hours in A&E.
‘Worcestershire Royal hospital was built too small and losing the Farrier Street surgery has only made things worse. On a regular basis I meet residents who cannot get an appointment with an NHS dentist. On many levels there is much to be done for a healthy Worcester.“
Ending the crisis in our NHS has to be the top priority of any government after the election. We must rescue our local health services which have been pushed to the brink by the Conservative party.’
“An emergency budget right after the election is the only way we can start to repair the damage done to our communities’ health services. People in Worcester should not have to wait for a moment longer to get the care they deserve.”
