Last week I met the new Chief Executive, Dr Mark Newbold, of the Heartlands hospital, to hear about how the government’s misguided shake-up of the NHS is going to hit local residents. It’s clear, we just don’t know how bad it’s going to get. Much depends on whether we can get local care in place to reduce the pressure on what’s clearly an already very, very busy hospital. Thank heavens we’ve two new mega-centres funded by Labour, about to open in Washwood Heath and the Bromford.
The good news is that Dr Newbold is determined to put basic standards of compassionate care at the top of his list – and is actively looking at new ways for the hospital which employs 10,000 people, to boost local employment and training prospects in Hodge Hill. More on this to follow.
But, what’s already clear is that since the new Tory-led government took over, the number of people getting treatment within 18 weeks is falling – its back to 2008 levels already. I’ll be keeping a very close eye on this. The public will not forgive this government failing the NHS.