NHS: Long-term Strategy

Paul Bristow Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

When I heard the big announcement recently that Peterborough would have a new NHS community diagnostic centre, I described it in my local newspaper as a great Christmas present for our city. This is a good NHS news story. The new centre will include MRI, CT and ultrasound scanning, as well as phlebotomy and cardiology testing. I am so pleased about the benefits that the centre will bring: it will mean that more than 67,000 extra scans and tests can be conducted in Peterborough every year. Along with many other centres opening across the country, it will do just what the Prime Minister has pledged to do: cut NHS waiting times and detect conditions earlier. I am talking about it today because this is precisely what we need to do: we need to get on with the job and have a long-term plan for our NHS. I am delighted that Peterborough is getting this state-of-the-art facility, because it is fantastic news for my city.

Like the Prime Minister, I have huge admiration for NHS workers. Both my parents worked for the NHS as nurses for most of their lives, and I understand the sacrifice and the long hours that are involved. Let me tell a story about something that happened in my constituency only recently, which is an example of the amazing work of NHS staff. I was told this story by my constituent Ivelina Banyalieva.

On 31 December, at 8 pm, a new year’s eve Bulgarian party was taking place in a local restaurant. A guest at one of the tables started sweating and was asking for napkins to wipe his face. The next second, he was lying unconscious. Some of the guests picked him up and took him outside the restaurant. Some tried to help, but of course they did not know what to do. Using her first aid training, Ivelina was able to determine that the guest had swallowed his tongue, was not breathing and did not have a pulse. She was able to take his tongue back out and, along with one of the guests standing outside, she started cardiopulmonary resuscitation while restaurant staff rang 999.

After five minutes of CPR the first ambulance arrived, and its staff confirmed that the man was still not breathing and had no pulse. They immediately started defibrillation, and within two or three minutes two more ambulances arrived. For an hour and half, those staff fought for the man’s life. They took it in turns to give CPR as they became exhausted, but did not stop for a second. After those one and a half hours, they were able to detect a very weak pulse. They transferred the man to one of the ambulances, where they spent another hour putting him into an artificial coma, and then successfully transferred him to a Cambridge hospital. He was given surgery with the placing of three stents, and 12 hours later he woke up.

That story shows that amazing things are happening in our NHS in places such as Peterborough. Saving someone’s life—essentially, bringing someone back to life—is one of the most amazing things that anyone can do. Such stories give me great pride in our national health service. Getting a new diagnostic centre makes me incredibly excited for the future. Yes, the NHS is facing challenges—no one will deny that—but I look forward with confidence, given my experience as the son of two nurses and experiences such as the one I have described. I am confident that this Government’s long-term plan for the NHS will succeed. I am confident that it is the right plan for the people of Peterborough.