Dear John,
Access to health care when you need it most remains a key concern for many residents so I thought it might be useful to provide a brief update on the work I have been doing in this area.
Access to GPs has long been a concern but those problems have been exacerbated during and after the Covid-19 lockdowns. I have been doing what I can to increase the number of face-to-face appointments, but I know it is still a substantial problem in particular parts of the constituency.
I have raised these my concerns about GP access to the relevant Minister in the House of Commons: https://fb.watch/rsL4eGgGkM/?
As a member of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, I took the opportunity to raise your concerns directly with the Secretary of State for Health: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=725149935864097
Following these questions, the Department for Health were able to provide an update on the work being done locally to recruit more staff and provide more capacity both at local GP practices and Bolton Royal.
The training and recruitment of more healthcare professionals is hugely important, which is why I worked to secure funding for a new £40m medical college at Bolton Royal. The Bolton Institute of Medical Science is opening later this year and will train the next generation of health professionals, benefitting residents across the Bolton Borough.
I was delighted that a new £18.3m, state of the art operating theatre complex opened earlier this year at Bolton Royal, which will enable an additional 5,000 patients to receive the treatment they need each year.
Construction of the new Horwich Health Hub is almost complete which will provide state of the art GP surgeries and a range of community health treatments.
I hold regular meetings with Bolton NHS Foundation Trust which allow me to keep up to date with the progress that the NHS are making locally but these meetings also provide me with the opportunity to feedback your concerns.
I would like to hear your views on healthcare provision locally, so please do fill in my survey below:
https://www.boltonconservatives.org.uk/news/chris-green-mps-health-survey
Yours sincerely,
