The health service’s reform roadshow had its second event over the weekend while the NHS’s hub for the 10-year plan tops one million visits.
Earlier this month, the government launched a series of debates up and down the country with the first kicking off in Middlesbrough to discuss the health service in the north east and Yorkshire.
Reform roadshow
This latest event was hosted in Leicestershire with public health minister Andrew Gwynne and NHS England’s urgent and emergency care director, Sarah-Jane Marsh, both in attendance. The pair visited a mobile vaccination unit in Loughborough and witnessed first-hand the impact it was having on the local community.
Across the midlands, the latest data indicates there are:
- over 1.4 million patients on the waiting list, with nearly 50,000 waiting more than a year;
- more than 100,000 patients on the waiting list at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, with more than 2,000 waiting more than a year;
- nearly 130,000 patients on the waiting list at Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board, with more than 2,500 waiting more than a year;
- over 300,000 patients waiting for diagnostic tests and scans in the Midlands; and
- more than 25,000 patients waiting for diagnostic tests and scans at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.
Springing into action
Marsh, who is also NHSE’s deputy chief operating officer, said: “As someone with over 20 years’ experience working in the NHS in the Midlands – including almost 14 years as CEO of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital – I know how vital it is to hear from patients and their families directly, so it is truly fantastic that more than a million people have already come forward to let us know about their experiences.”
Gwynne, meanwhile, added: “I want to say a big thank you to so many people coming out so that you can be part of this 10 Year Health deliberation. We can’t change the NHS and make it better without you. When we say that the NHS is broken but not beaten, it’s not beaten because the staff are incredible, it is because the NHS is not where we need it to be.”
Last month, the government urged the country to help reform the NHS through the new change.nhs.uk platform. The moves being made by the Department of Health and Social Care are all in support of its upcoming 10-year plan, which is expected to be published in the spring.
Image credit: iStock
