Holly Lynch: Many people in Calderdale will struggle to access NHS care

By Holly Lynch
Published 26th Jan 2023, 15:00 BST
The NHS is facing unprecedented pressures and many people in Calderdale will have experienced a struggle to access care. I recently raised the case of a member of my own team, Cllr Adam Wilkinson in the House of Commons.

Adam has two children, aged one and four. When both his children recently fell ill, concerned about the national reports of fatal strep A cases and with the GP surgery closed, he decided to call 111.

He and his wife waited 90 minutes for an answer and were told that the symptoms were severe enough that they required a call from a GP within six hours. Not long after ending the call, he received a text which said: “Due to unprecedented numbers of calls, we are unable to provide a call back. Your case has been closed.” When the children deteriorated and it was late afternoon on a weekend, Adam took them both to A&E.

On arrival, the department was under immense pressure and the family of 4 had to take turns sharing just one chair in the waiting room. After 8 hours and into the early hours of the morning, an exhausted member of staff came to the waiting room to say that they were so busy, any patients who could possibly leave should do so. Reluctantly Adam took his children home.

Thankfully a GP was seen the following morning and the children started to recover, but for many families the consequences of this NHS crisis are deeply worrying.

For 13 years the Government have rundown our NHS. There is now a 7.2 million case backlog. The previous Labour Government reduced NHS waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks. There were no NHS strikes throughout 13 years of Labour Government, but staff who are overworked, overstretched and under-valued now feel like they have no other option other than to take industrial action.

Labour has announced plans to double the number of district nurses qualifying each year, train more than 5,000 new health visitors, create an additional 10,000 nursing and midwifery placements every year and double the number of medical school places, paid for by abolishing the non-dom status.

We know patients and staff alike need to see a transformation and I am doing all I can to share their experiences in Parliament, in order to deliver it.