Our local NHS board have announced that Trinity Medical Centre will close on 31st July. The decision to close the surgery is deeply disappointing and I am concerned that it will leave thousands of local residents scrambling to find another GP, including vulnerable patients.
At a time when local residents are already waiting weeks to see a GP, this decision is a shocking, short-sighted solution for users of the surgery. People will find themselves trying to squeeze onto the books of existing practices, travelling further to see a GP, losing the strong and trusted relationships with their GPs they've built over time. The blame for this decision lies squarely with this Conservative Government who have imposed 13 years of underfunding and neglect on our local NHS services. I have already called on the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, to meet with the community to see the impact of this decision first-hand and to reverse this disastrous decision. Today, I proudly led Labour's opposition debate on mental health and put forward our plan to transform mental health services across the country. It includes more staff, specialists in schools, hubs in communities, treatment within a month. Today, I called on the Health Secretary to get his act together on our failing mental health services. Across mental health services, children are being failed, police are spending hours waiting with children in crisis in A&E, staff are overworked are under-resourced. It's time for the Health Secretary to get a grip or get out of the way. Today, I wrote to the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, calling on him to listen to concerns expressed by local residents about the proposed closure of Trinity Medical Centre.
At a time when waiting times are at record levels, these plans by the NHS and Government will make it harder for local residents to access a local GP. That's why, alongside our local Labour Councillors, I'm campaigning to keep GP services at this site. Please add your name to the petition here Read my letter below: Today, I wrote to the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, regarding my growing concerns about the limited powers of the ongoing inquiry into the deaths of up to 2,000 patients in mental health hospitals in Essex Partnership University Trust over the past 20 years.
The inquiry has only received the co-operation of less than 30% of named staff, who are essential witnesses in the deaths that are being investigated, leaving families in limbo and further compounding their grief. I have called on the Health Secretary to give the inquiry the full statutory powers required to ensure families get answers and that lessons can be learned for the future. Read my full letter here: The children's cancer centre at St George's Hospital is at risk of closure.
This is deeply concerning. The St George's children's cancer centre has more than 25 years of expertise delivering the highest quality care for patients, which will be lost if the services are moved away from Tooting. Under these plans, patients will be forced to travel to a site in central London. Parents have made it very clear that it is easier, cheaper, safer, and more comfortable to take their children to St George's. There is also a huge added cost. The plans to relocate services will cost an estimated £90 million, more than three times the cost to redevelop facilities at St George's Hospital. Today, I've launched a petition calling on the Government and NHS England to keep the children’s cancer service at St George's Hospital. Add your name and share the petition with friends and family here Patients experiencing a mental health crisis often find themselves stuck in A&E.
The Health Secretary should be ashamed. Today, I asked the Health Secretary when will he finally get his act together and back Labour's plans to recruit thousands of additional staff to bring down waiting times? See my question here Our exclusive data reveals that children in a mental health crisis spent more than 900,000 hours in A&E in England, last year. The total delays across England, in the past year alone, equate to 103 years of waiting time. This is a huge rise, up four-fold in the last decade.
The figures, made public through Freedom of Information requests, show the staggering number of hours that children have spent in a mental health crisis in Emergency Departments. With nowhere to turn, children with a mental illness are left to deteriorate – at which time A&E is the only place left for them to go. Emergency Departments are incredibly unsuitable settings for children in crisis, yet we’re witnessing increasingly younger children having to present to A&E in desperation. The next Labour Government will prioritise a truly preventative plan for mental health services and will put patient care first. We will ensure access to mental health professionals in every school and put an open access hub in every community, in addition to guaranteeing mental health treatment within a month for all who need it, by recruiting 8,500 new mental health staff to treat a million additional patients a year by Labour’s first term in office., funded by closing tax loopholes. Read the full article here An undercover joint investigation by Sky News and The Independent has raised serious concerns about the safety of patients at inpatient settings ran by the Huntercombe Group.
This is the third investigation into abuse in secure inpatient mental health settings, in four weeks. The system is broken. I previously wrote to Therese Coffey, the previous Health Secretary, to raise my concerns about other similar investigations highlighting allegations of abuse, by Channel 4 Dispatches and BBC Panorama, but did not receive a response. The Government has been silent over these allegations and for weeks there wasn’t even a functioning Mental Health Minister. Patients, and their families, deserve answers. They deserve dignity, respect and access to high quality treatment, which is why I have called for a rapid review into mental health services and the way patients are treated in inpatient settings. See my statement in Parliament here: https://twitter.com/DrRosena/status/1587420289662492672?s=20&t=Gj2YhL3GB3Os4nSrRoGK7Q Parents arriving in A&E with ashen faces holding their children, whose bodies are skeletal and covered in cuts. Families are on suicide watch. Frontline NHS workers are at breaking point. This is the reality of Tory Britain in 2022.
Our latest research has shown that more than a million patients referred to mental health services were turned away over the last 12 months, whilst the cost of mental illness to the British economy is £117 billion a year. This is the direct result of 12 years of Conservative mismanagement of our economy and public services. We need a growing economy to pay for modern, preventative sustainable healthcare, but we can only do this with a Labour Government that will put our public services back on track. The next Labour Government will transform our mental health services: new staff, new services, faster treatment, and prevention as our watchword. Better mental health for all. Read my latest piece in the Daily Mirror here. https://twitter.com/DrRosena/status/1579113927438663681?s=20&t=FTZA6bYs6BUjLJ-vVYAmzg |
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