IN the run up to the election, people talked to me a lot about the desperate state of our NHS.

We all know the headlines because we’ve lived them - the highest waiting lists, and the lowest patient satisfaction on record.

Indeed, as long-time Weston residents, like you, my family and I see first-hand the difficulties in accessing basic healthcare like dentistry, mental health support or even getting a GP appointment.

Recognising our NHS workers

We also see the dedication of NHS workers in the face of tremendous challenges, I come from a family of nurses and carers, it is their dedication to service which most inspired me to try and make a positive difference for our community.

I’m so very pleased that in the first 50 days of this government, we closed the door on years of anguish and have given NHS workers a pay rise; while 5.5 per cent is modest, it’s a significant step towards restoring our NHS, we can’t fix our country without a functioning NHS and after 14 years of declining standards and pay, we’re doing the right thing.

Graham Road Surgery

This past week I was fortunate to visit several GP surgeries in Weston, including Graham Road, a place I was eager to visit because of its difficult recent history and how many communications I’ve received about it.

At one point not so long ago, Graham Road had only one part-time GP attempting to service 17,000 patients, but it was reassuring to meet with some of the dedicated, passionate staff who’ve worked hard to improve the situation over the past few years.

Graham Road how has a thriving team of GPs, nurses and support staff with ambitious future plans to move to a fully accessible, purpose-built facility.

While we aren’t out of the woods and there’s lots of hard work still to do, I’m excited for the future.

Getting the NHS back on its feet

Later in the week I met with Shane Devlin, the Chief Executive Officer of the NHS Integrated Care Board for Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire to discuss some of the big issues facing people here in Weston, not least the terrible situation we have inherited on NHS dentistry. Over the coming months, we’ll be providing more information about the future of vital services such as dentistry and how we’ll deliver improvements and rebuild the system. I’ll also hold monthly meetings with Shane where I’ll be able to feed-back to him and the Board, what is going well and what needs attention.

Please keep in touch

Getting our NHS and care services back on track and reversing the decline we inherited will take time, but I’m committed to fixing the foundations of our public services in Weston, so our children have a better inheritance – this starts with us keeping in touch, this month my constituency staff start their jobs, I’ve made sure I have as many staff based in Weston as I can so Weston gets the attention it needs and deserves.

In the next few weeks you’ll start to see the calendar of surgeries and events made public, in the meantime, if you are experiencing difficulties in accessing healthcare, or there is anything else you think I should be aware of or able to help with, please do get in touch by email – daniel.aldridge.mp@parliament.uk and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Thank you again for your patience as we set up a brand-new office, fit for the future and ready to serve – we’re so nearly there.

Dan