NHS: Long-term Strategy

Charlotte Nichols Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Thirteen years of Conservative Government have led to crises in every part of our health and social care system. Our infrastructure is breaking down, patient experience is at rock bottom and the consequences of the mismanagement of our health staff is all too clear. Of course covid has played a part, but most of those things were dangerously clear before the pandemic struck. Up and down the country, the condition of repair of our hospitals is declining. Despite all the bluster of the former Prime Minister and his successors, in Warrington, we are still waiting for a decision on a new hospital—if the Minister wants to announce it today, we will be very grateful. We just do not have the capacity to deal with the number of people requiring care in a town our size with the dated, far too small hospital that we have, despite the best efforts of our incredible staff.

In June last year, ITV’s “Tonight” spent a couple of days filming with the North West Ambulance Service and Warrington Hospital. It reported horrific conditions, with patients forced to sleep on trolleys for days on end outside A&E departments, and that was back in the summer. Since then, we have only seen matters get worse. Over the winter, I have heard horror story after horror story from constituents, and I will read just one: “My dad, aged 72, arrived at Warrington Hospital on Christmas morning by ambulance after being unable to walk and being confused at around 3 am. I was shocked to see a number of trolleys with patients winding around in the corridor in the A&E department, with paramedics attending to patients and nurses rushed off their feet treating multiple patients. He was in a trolley in the corridor for 26 hours before being admitted and kept trying to get off the trolley, as he was very distressed and confused. I spent three days going in and out of the hospitals and walking through the corridors and A&E department and I honestly feel traumatised by the experience.”

Those failures are unprecedented and a total collapse from the achievements that the last Labour Government left. It is all too easy to make a debate such as this about statistics, but the reality is unnecessary pain, distress and death. When Nye Bevan wrote “In Place of Fear”, he proposed a healthcare system that would remove the anxiety of illness and injury and make us a more secure, contented and productive society. This Government have overseen the return of fear. The degradation of our national health service since 2010 is a national tragedy, and I warn Government Members that, if they do not address it seriously, that will be their shameful legacy.