Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary visits Great Western Hospital

Labour has promised new doctors, nurses and midwives for Wiltshire.

The pledge came ahead of a visit by Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting to Swindon's Great Western Hospital.

He was due to be accompanied by Heidi Alexander, Labour’s candidate for South Swindon and a former Shadow Health Secretary.

Labour has promised that patients will be guaranteed a face-to-face appointment with a GP if they want one. 

The party says that, while some patients prefer to hold appointments over the phone, many are frustrated at not being able to see their doctor in person, and just 22 percent of patients are given a choice in the type of appointment they have. 

Almost one in six people who tried to speak to a nurse or GP were unable to get an appointment at all last year.

Labour has also announced plans to bring back the family doctor, so patients can see the same GP for each appointment if they choose to. The party says patients are increasingly unable to see the doctor of their choice, with two thirds rarely or never speaking to their preferred doctor, up from just half in 2018. 

Under Labour’s plans, GP practices will be provided with incentives to offer patients continuity of care, so doctors must take into account patients’ preferences

Figures from the NHS show that more than 34,000 people are waiting for NHS treatment at Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. 1,600 people locally have been waiting for more than a year, during three separate Conservative Health Secretaries. 

A Labour spokesperson said: "The NHS went into the latest wave of covid infections with the longest waiting list ever, understaffed, and overstretched, and the staffing shortages are getting worse. 

"There are currently 3,600 nursing vacancies in the NHS in the South West – nearly 1,000 more than there were in March of this year. There are also 670 doctor vacancies in the South West, an increase of more than 50% since March this year."