Matt Warman

By Matt Warman Boston & Skegness MP

This last week has brought great news on the NHS both locally and nationally – the latest development on Pilgrim Hospital’s paediatric unit has seen NHS Improvement confirm that there are no plans now to close the unit.

That means that the worst case scenario on the table is now, simply put, far better. It was frustrating at another public meeting in Boston not to be able to confirm the precise details of what future service provision will look like, but at the very minimum it means that not all children who would have had to travel further than Boston will now have to do so.

A huge amount of work behind the scenes from all parts of the rather fragmented NHS system has got us to this point and I’ve committed to being as open and transparent as possible on this vital issue. What’s been most remarkable, perhaps, is the sense that only at a moment of crisis has the system really focused on an issue that deserved greater attention a number of years ago.

It’s underlined for me just how transformative the new medical school for Lincolnshire will be, and I’ll keep pushing on that front too to make sure we derive maximum benefit.

On a wider level, however, the announcement from the Prime Minister over the weekend that NHS funding is to rise significantly makes it clear that the era of austerity is over for the Health Service, and that there’s only one party that will deliver the economy required to pay for it.

The PM and the Health Secretary have, for me, made the right call by asking what the NHS really needs and committing to provide it, rather than asking what we can afford. That won’t mean gilded taps on every ward but it will mean sensible, sustainable increases.

Some want to the see the new funding settlement as a ‘Brexit dividend’ while others disagree – talking in those terms is to miss the main point of a commitment to put £400 million a week extra in real terms into the Health Service.

That will be an extra £20 billion a year by 2023, meaning major progress on reform, the introduction of new technology and the reduction of waiting lists. Ultimately, that means longer, healthier lives for all of us.

The PM will also ask the NHS to produce its own 10-year plan to cut waste and reduce bureaucracy, as well as improving access to mental health services, and every penny of funding saved will go back to making the NHS even better.

Taken together, these local and national stories paint a picture of an improving plan for the NHS – the service we all rely on will continue to face challenges in recruiting the staff our growing, aging population deserves, but today it’s looking better than it has for a long time.

Matt Warman is the Conservative MP for the Boston and Skegness constituency.

By Matt Warman Boston & Skegness MP

Pilgrim Hospital is my local hospital. It’s where I’ve taken my daughter when she needed to see a doctor, and it’s where I know, thanks to the brilliant staff, many of my constituents have seen their lives, or those of their children, saved. If I can do anything to see Pilgrim improved and enhanced, I will do it.

Over the last two weeks, there have been a number of public meetings to discuss the fear that some paediatric services may close temporarily because recruiting the highly skilled doctors needed for these jobs is a huge challenge. There’s a nationwide shortage, and United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust has struggled for a number of years to adequately staff 24/7 rotas.

As an understaffed hospital might be less safe than one properly staffed but further away, the trust is right to consider all the options while they recruit. Plan A, because of patient safety, is to keep the services as they are if any way can possibly be found. That plan, by the way, is also the cheapest option, so any talk of this being a financially led decision is bogus.

We all have different ways of helping the campaign to make sure services stay as they are: some parts of the NHS can make sure the recruitment package is as good as it needs to be to get the people we need. For my part, I’ve used the platform afforded by Parliament to highlight the issue and secure the support of the Prime Minister as well as ministers in the Department for Health.

This helps to unlock doors and to galvanise efforts, but it does not in itself secure the extra doctors we need. I’ve also sat down with the trust and senior external doctors to make sure we are, as Children’s Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price put it, “leaving no stone unturned”.

Already, there has been some success in recruiting, meaning that services have been secured to the end of July rather than to the end of May. This to me demonstrates that when the trust says it wants to keep services open, it means it. As the Prime Minister herself said, the trust “wants to continue to provide paediatric services at Boston, and every effort will be made to ensure that that can continue.”

I know, however, many are sceptical about the trust’s ability or resolve. They cite the example of the temporary closure of Grantham’s overnight A&E and say services at Boston could go the same way. Others suggest that any consultation is a done deal: I’ve seen first-hand how much the current trust management want to keep services at Pilgrim. I know it wasn’t the case in the past.

If there is any tool I can use I will make sure I’ve done all I can to help – my appeal to campaigners is to remember one thing: we are all on the same side. In the long term a new medical school for Lincolnshire and a local budget that is rising by £200 million will make a big difference.

For now, an immediate staffing problem must be tackled using every possible measure, and that’s what I will make sure happens.

Matt Warman is the Conservative MP for the Boston and Skegness constituency.