May 2017
In recent weeks, I and the other Worcestershire MPs have met up with the new senior management which has been appointed to help the NHS Acute Trust improve its performance in time for the next Care Quality Commission inspection. This will deliver the necessary clinical and management changes to improve the way patients are treated upon presentation at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital A&E unit.
In order to tackle the problem of waiting times, the Trust has bid for additional funding to allow the expansion of the Emergency Department and this week the Department for Health confirmed that an additional £920,000 will be allocated to the hospital to help deal with additional winter pressures – on top of the extra £2.6 million allocated in the last two years.
I also welcome the recent local capital investment which has seen the opening of a new £17 million community hospital in Malvern, a £22.5 million oncology unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and a new birthing centre and a breast centre.
I will also continue to work with other Worcestershire MPs to lobby the government to approve the additional £29million in capital spend for Worcestershire Royal and the Alex that we have been discussing recently.
I am proud that we continue to invest more money on our local NHS - the Worcestershire NHS budget has risen by £30 million since 2010. These budgets are spent by our local GPs on local services.
We all support the hard-working staff in our local hospitals who have to cope with extra demand on a day-to-day basis. We can all help by encouraging friends and family to use A&E only when urgent care is needed and to make more use of GP surgeries, the free 111 advice line and the minor injuries units at our highly-valued community hospitals.
The staff at the hospital are absolutely amazing, coping with a huge demand for services on a day-to-day basis. I hope that the new management team will lead the way towards systemic improvements which mean that everyone gets the best possible care across our NHS.
