Boston and Skegness MP welcomes NHS focus on recruitment
During a statement to the House of Commons about the plan, Matt highlighted the need to focus on recruitment for areas which face staff shortages, such as Lincolnshire.
He said: “I welcome this plan and the Secretary of State’s energy. When he visited Pilgrim Hospital in my constituency, he saw that this is not solely about money, because a huge chunk of the challenge that the NHS faces is about the workforce. Within the workforce plans in this 10-year plan, will he pay particular attention to under-doctored areas such as Lincolnshire, where it is a huge challenge to produce the same outcomes that we see in other parts of the country?”
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Hide AdHealth Secretary, Matt Hancock MP, who visited Pilgrim Hospital in Boston at Matt’s invitation last October, replied: “My hon. Friend is dead right. It was a real pleasure to visit Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, where my grandmother worked as a nurse for 30 years, and to meet the staff. He is absolutely right about the recruitment challenges that they face, which is why a whole chapter of the report, and ongoing work, is dedicated to improving recruitment. When we put £20 billion into a public service, of course we will need more people to deliver it.”
Other key areas of the Plan, which was developed in partnership with clinicians and patients themselves, seek to improve out-of-hospital care, such as community health services, improve maternity safety and care, and prioritise use of the latest technology to tackle preventable diseases.
After the statement, Matt commented: “I very much welcome the new NHS Long Term Plan, which will help people at every stage in life to live well, and access the best possible medical care should they need it. As I said in the Commons, having the right workforce is vital in achieving this, especially in areas such as Lincolnshire which have faced shortages, so I am particularly pleased with the Health Secretary’s assurance that the Plan includes work to improve NHS recruitment. I look forward to supporting this work at both a local and national level.”
The plan has also been welcomed by the chair of the Lincolnshire Care Association and CEO of Walnut Care – one of Lincolnshire’s leading home care providers – Melanie Weatherley.
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Hide AdShe said: “I am delighted to see the NHS Long Term Plan published today. I look forward to working with NHS colleagues in Lincolnshire and further afield as part of the implementation.
“A key aspiration of the plan is to keep people out of hospital for as long as possible. Along with the rest of the social care sector, I look forward to supporting the NHS to deliver this.
“To enable social care to support the NHS with the aim of helping patients leave hospital on time, additional funding is needed. This will ultimately prove to be a net saving for the NHS in the long term.”
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