Mail Weekly Column: 5 June 2023

By the time this column goes to print, recess will be over and I will be back in Westminster. However, right now it’s bright sunshine outside and Furness is at its best.

This has been one of those fascinating weeks where I’ve been able to spend some time really getting in to issues that affect so many of you, understanding more about why things are the way they are, and how I can best lean in to help.

The early part of this week was spent doing this almost exclusively on the the NHS and healthcare. You may have picked up that last week the Secretary of State for Health announced the details of the new hospital programme. I was very glad to see that our area is being very well served from this announcement, with new hospital builds replacing the Royal Preston and Royal Lancaster and substantial investment going into Furness General, and so I sat down with Jerry Hawker to get more into the detail of what this means. This investment is something that I have been lobbying on for quite some time and Jerry and his fab team have done a remarkable job of putting together a coherent bid that isn’t just about replacing ageing hospitals with new ones (although that is crucially important in Lancaster’s case), but also about meeting healthcare needs across the Bay for the next generation. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to transform our hospitals.

I also caught up with Aaron Cummings to discuss developments at Furness General. We touched on a wide range of areas, from the new hospital programme to their recent CQC inspection, and a whole host of areas in between. Furness General has been though some difficult times recently, and Aaron and his team are measured and cautious about the progress they are making, and very aware of the need to rebuild trust in the communities they serve. But progress is being made - you may remember that conditions were placed on both stroke and maternity services at FGH by the regulator in 2021, for instance. Thanks to the hard work of the team and staff there these have now been lifted in entirety. This is fantastic news and thanks are due to the dozens of people who have worked tirelessly to improve care for the community.

Finally, I met with Jane Scattergood and her team from the Integrated Care Board to discuss dentistry and what we can jointly do to improve the frankly appalling situation that many are in in Furness. Frequent readers will know that this is a particular bug bear for me, and it was great to compare notes, and get a detailed briefing, ahead of me meeting the Minister next week on this exact subject.

Outside of the NHS it’s been busy elsewhere too - I spent plenty of team out in Hawcoat and Ormsgill doing street surgeries in the sun, joined a roundtable of childcare providers to listen to them, attended the 5th anniversary celebrations for the Submarine Academy for Skills and Knowledge (Happy birthday!), and also managed to get the kayak out to Coniston! I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend in the sun.