Chichester MP named Lib Dem spokesperson for primary care and hospitals

Chichester MP Jess Brown-Fuller has been appointed as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Hospitals and Primary Care. The Liberal Democrat party is now the third largest party in the House of Commons with 72 MPs.

Her appointment comes as figures just published show that the number of four week waits for GPs in West Sussex so far this year has exceeded 195,360, according to the House of Commons Library.

“These figures show how the Conservatives have broken our health services at every level,” said Jess.

“While we recognise the need for reform across the NHS, we cannot starve it of funds in the meantime and the Liberal Democrats are urging the government to provide sufficient funds in the autumn budget to allow patients to see their GPs when they need to,” she added.

Last month Lord Darzi revealed that the UK has almost 16% fewer fully qualified GPs than any other high-income countries relative to its population. “When you consider that every £1 spent in primary care saves £10 in urgent and secondary care, our lack of GPs makes no financial sense,” said Jess.

“Many people in my constituency are worried that they simply won’t be able to get seen by a GP when they need to be. People know just how badly the Conservative Party broke our NHS but now it is down to the new government to grip this crisis with the urgency it requires,” said Jess, adding that “struggling to get hold of a dentist or doctor was one of the main complaints I heard on the doorstep during the election.”

“The Liberal Democrats as a party, and I as its primary care spokesperson, will be campaigning for everyone to have a legal right to see a GP within 7 days, by recruiting thousands more GPs. GPS are the gateway to our entire NHS system for patients and it is scandalous that the UK has less GPs per head of population than most other high-income countries in the world,” Jess pointed out.