If re-elected on 8th June I will continue to keep pushing for improvements to our local heath services.
I am passionate about protecting local health resources, and fought successfully to secure the reopening of Blake Maternity Unit at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital in early 2011. I have since supported the Children's Heart Unit at Southampton Hospital, and met the local GPs' Commissioning Group, visited the War Memorial Hospital and campaigned against the transfer of vascular surgery facilities from the QA to Southampton.
Since Gosport was chosen by the Department of Health to be part of their Vanguard project to improve community care in March 2015, I have frequently met with the project leaders, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and local GPs to be updated on the progress of the project.
One example of the Vanguard pilot is the Same Day Access Service on offer at Gosport War Memorial Hospital where a Multi-speciality Community Provider hub has been established. The Hub integrates different healthcare specialists into one centralised hub with the aim of cutting GP waiting times, reducing hospital admissions and move people out of hospitals more quickly. I visited the hub in February 2016 and was pleased to see the difference it was already making for Gosport constituents. In October 2016, I took local GPs who lead on the MCP hub to Westminster to meet with the Public Health Minister.
I regularly meet with staff and management at the QA Hospital to raise constituents concerns and keep updated with developments at the site. Before Parliament was dissolved for the General Election, I was part of a group of local MPs and healthcare professionals working to find solutions to the existing problems at QA. I have also met with partners at Stubbington Surgery to help find a solution to the cramped conditions at the practice.
I am keen to bring greater fairness to the IVF guidelines implemented by the local Clinical Commissioning Group which means that couples in the Gosport and Fareham area cannot access the levels of IVF treatment they would be entitled to in other parts of the UK.
I am keen to see improvements made to mental health services across the constituency. Since 2010, the Conservatives have increased spending on mental health each year to a record £11.4 billion in 2016/17, with a further investment of £1 billion by 20/21, so that we can deliver the mental health services people deserve.
If re-elected on 8th June I will continue to fight for better local healthcare.