The recent announcement of a £250 million boost to deliver 900 new hospital beds across England will have a direct impact on services used by Crawley residents.
This investment includes £6 million for 64 new beds at East Surrey Hospital.
The two new modular wards will increase capacity by 32 beds and reprovide a further 32.
Some 30 NHS organisations across the country are to benefit from such investment to help ease pressure in urgent and emergency care services.
This work includes developing or expanding five urgent treatment centres and four same-day emergency care services; helping patients be seen more quickly without being admitted to hospital.
Indeed, the NHS expects that the majority of the schemes will be completed by January to help deal with winter pressures.
This boost forms part of the NHS Urgent & Emergency Care Recovery Plan which was published earlier this year. The Plan sets out to provide more than 5,000 additional permanent, fully staffed hospital beds in total, with the NHS on track to deliver this by winter.
As the NHS recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic I have continued to pursue the point of Government’s record investment getting to the places where it is required. These new measures will help ensure patients receive the care they need, when they need it. The NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan will go to put the NHS on a sustainable footing by delivering the biggest training expansion in the history of our NHS, and recruit and retain hundreds of thousands more staff over the next decade and a half.
We are already seeing the effects of the Urgent & Emergency Care Recovery Plan and the funding which backs it. Average Category 2 ambulance response times are down by 27 minutes on July 2022, and down by 60 minutes on the peak of winter pressures in December.
The NHS has been clear that its plans aim to reduce waiting times and transform services with an expansion of same-day care and virtual wards, helping patients to be cared for in their own home where possible.
With close to 100 more doctors, nurses and other patient care staff working in primary healthcare general practice across Crawley this year compared to 2019, it is right we see investment in the NHS workforce across the health service. I am grateful for the public service of all health and care workers supporting Crawley patients.
This year the NHS marked its 75th anniversary. Through continued record high investment we can ensure the health service gives the best possible treatment and care over the next three quarters of a century.
Henry Smith MP
