North West Cambridgeshire election candidates on the NHS

Elliot Tong (Green)

Elliot Tong is the Green Party candidate for North West Cambridgeshire. (Image: Elliot Tong)

It is no secret that the National Health Service is struggling. Under-staffed and under-resourced, waiting times for appointments have skyrocketed, a serious issue that has affected people up and down the country.

Some politicians will tell you that there’s an inherent problem with the funding model of the NHS, claiming that we need to get private companies involved with handling some of its services; I don’t think it’s coincidental that this will allow them to give some valuable business contracts to their mates.

Let’s be honest about the real reason that the NHS is struggling - a decade of austerity under the Conservatives has starved it of resources.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated that spending on health services in England has been cut by around £2 billion in real terms this year alone, and that’s before mentioning the extra costs that are now being faced.

If we want to begin getting the United Kingdom back on track it’s essential that we have our country’s millionaires and billionaires, people who have made their fortunes through the UK’s amenities, pay a fair share back towards our public services."

Shailesh Vara (Conservative) 

Shailesh Vara is the Conservative candidate for North West Cambridgeshire. (Image: Shailesh Vara)

"There has been pressure on the NHS for decades, under various governments. This however, has intensified because of the backlog created by the COVID pandemic.

In response, the Government has provided record funding to the NHS and there are 45,220 more doctors and 69,685 more nurses since 2010.

Moreover, we are opening 160 Community Diagnostic Centres. These centres will provide millions more scans, tests and checks so patients can receive care more quickly and it will also help to ease waiting times for hospitals.

Earlier this year, the Government introduced Pharmacy First, a scheme which allows patients to receive treatment for certain conditions direct from their local pharmacy. This will have the added benefit of easing the burden of GP waiting times.

As regards having more NHS dentists, the government is incentivising dentists to work in underserved areas with one-off payments of up to £20,000. 

Given that the taxpayer makes a significant investment in training dentists, the Government is also proposing a scheme requiring dental graduates to work in the NHS for a certain period after qualifying as dentists."

Sam Carling (Labour)

Sam Carling is the Labour candidate for North West Cambridgeshire. (Image: Sam Carling)

"We’re all too familiar with the 8am scramble for a GP appointment, and it has to end. Because the Conservatives have spent 14 years asleep at the wheel, NHS waiting lists have grown so long that people are getting significantly more ill while they wait for appointments – meaning treatment is harder, and takes more time. It’s a vicious cycle of decline.

The last Labour government massively slashed waiting times, and if elected on July 4, we’ll do it again. Delivering 40,000 extra NHS appointments per week, delivered by paying staff overtime to do extra shifts evenings and weekends, is one of our first steps for change – and we’ll fund it by cracking down on non-dom tax loopholes and other tax avoidance by the mega-rich.

That will enable us to clear the case backlog, which – in conjunction with our plans to invest in technology for earlier diagnosis of cancer and other diseases – will get our health services back on their feet.

We also need better public health measures to keep people healthy – like banning the promotion of vaping and junk food to young people. Labour will deliver those measures, so we can tackle the causes of some common diseases too."

Bridget Smith (Lib Dem)

Bridget Smith is the Liberal Democrat candidate for North West Cambridgeshire. (Image: Bridget Smith)

"A recent survey by the Lib Dems in Cambridgeshire has shown that 60 per cent of people in the county find it difficult to get a GP appointment, though when they do they are happy with the service they receive.  

The reason for this is there are simply not enough GPs. We are not training enough and we are not keeping them when we do train them.  Far too many move away from the UK to work elsewhere. This is why the Lib Dems nationally are committed to creating 8000 new GP roles.

Only by fully staffing GP practices can we begin to relieve the pressures on our hospitals which are inundated with people who could and should have been seen in a timely manner at their GP practice. 

The situation is not helped in Cambridgeshire by the fact that our GPs receive less funding per head of the population than anywhere else in the UK. We have a rapidly growing and ageing population this has created today’s crisis.  

Shockingly, any additional money GPs receive from Government cannot be spent on more GPs even when practices are failing to meet demand and hospitals are overflowing. The Lib Dems will reform these systems to put patients first."