IN her column for The Press this week, York Central MP Rachael Maskell argues that the NHS needs urgent investment.

ON July 5, 1948, our nation’s hope was lifted as Labour opened the doors to the NHS and we knew we were safe in its hands. It is where most of us were born, healed and will die. Over its 74 years it has faced many challenges but has been revived from the brink under each Labour Government, and now, seriously injured, needs a Labour Government to invest in its future again.

However, on July 1, another Tory mass reorganisation has disbanded Clinical Commissioning Groups, in our case Vale of York, and merged them into new Integrated Care Systems. In York, it is the Humber, Coast and Vale ICS, covering North Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and Hull. These new expansive bodies are meant to integrate with local authorities and charities to deliver both physical and mental health services as well as social care.

Firstly, they are not coterminous with local authority boundaries, so will still be required to look in a number of different directions, meeting different demands, a point I made in Parliament last week. Since their inception, I have been challenging the Health Minister about their confusing accountability and am concerned that ultimately York could lose out on funding to areas of greater deprivation, like Hull, getting less money rather than more investment.

Confused? I recommend this animation by the King’s Fund, demystifying the new NHS, alas still prey to private companies hoping to profit from the sick. https://youtu.be/blapgFKXv0I

My contention is this, not another patient has been treated, not another waiting list shortened, not another doctor or nurse or care worker added by this expensive shake up. The opposite is true.

We now have 1,600 less GPs than we did in 2010 when the Tories, with the Liberal Democrats, took an axe to the NHS and cut it back. We cannot find a dentist. It takes longer to see a GP. Hospital waiting lists have reached a new high of 6.48 million. And a third of cancer targets are being missed.

Why this matters is because after Labour rebuilt the NHS through the first decade of this century, the Tories and Liberal Democrats have brought it to its knees.

I hear you say: “What about the pandemic? Surely that is the cause?” I don’t deny it has taken its toll. NHS and social care staff continue to work under pressure to keep us safe; Covid is on the rise again, but the NHS was already spiralling out of control before Covid hit the UK. Then fragile, Covid has been the catalyst to break the NHS and its amazing staff.

York Press:

Rightly, we want healthcare when we need it, but with greater demands and the service seeing more patients than ever before, we have to access healthcare in the right way and in the right place.

Countries which are succeeding with significant demands are placing more services in their communities, so hospitals are left for the seriously ill. Community clinics, community diagnostic hubs, community mental health support, community health checks. We saw the success of the community vaccine programme.

But other countries also invest in staff. The UK has one of the lowest doctor to patient ratios, and yet Government are refusing to create a workforce plan.

We are fortunate to have clinicians trying to solve these challenges locally. They are on your side, despite having their hands tied. It is the Government which is getting it so badly wrong. I am campaigning for more medical student places and a dental school for York.

We need more young people to be attracted to nursing, one of the most rewarding jobs there is, and we need people to recognise how good carers’ jobs can transform the end of life for the frailest, but carers need decent pay.

York Press:

I know you are frustrated, worried even. It is right that you are. Do not blame your GPs or their staff, they are doing all they can. This is Tory political failure, and you will get your say at the next election. I am doing all I can and have just been elected to the Health Select Committee in Parliament to challenge back and propose reforms that make a difference for you.

Let’s all work together: I as your MP, with clinicians, managers and you as patients. Let’s prescribe the NHS the right medicine and the right Government, then our NHS will be revived again. Happy Birthday NHS.