Responding to the Government’s announcements on the NHS today, city MP Stephen Morgan MP said:

“The Tories have spent nine years running down the NHS, imposing the biggest funding squeeze in its history.

A&E is overstretched and overcrowded, increasing numbers of people are waiting too long for operations, and key performance targets are being missed month after month.
 
In the last two years Ministers have announced 145 separate schemes promising upgrades, new beds and equipment totalling £2.5 billion but so far sadly only £100 million has been delivered.

As the independent Health Foundation has said, the £1bn given to hospitals for capital is cash that hospitals and other NHS trusts have already been awarded but have been forbidden to spend. They rightly point out that there remains a major risk to the quality of patient care posed by deteriorating facilities, out of date infrastructure and a shortage of equipment.

With this track record from Government and Ministers refusing to guarantee key standards, with more and more patients on the waiting list, and people are being forced to wait longer and longer for treatment and care, the NHS in our great city and those of us who rely on it, deserve so much better. 

It’s little wonder the top adviser to Boris Johnson says the Tories just don’t care about our NHS. I’ll keep fighting in Parliament for proper funding for our NHS in Portsmouth”.