It was great to see such a huge turnout of CHEK [Concern for Health in East Kent] campaigners, who’d left home well before dark to come to Westminster today. I’m glad I was able to secure time with Jeremy Hunt to discuss the future of the Kent & Canterbury hospital, and for CHEK to personally hand a letter to the Health Secretary. We also handed in a petition to 10 Downing Street.
Between us we made clear to him not only the strength of feeling locally, but also the exciting vision for the future. There’s a real opportunity now to have a new hospital on the edge of Canterbury serving the population of East Kent. If this can be combined with a medical school – there’s a chance to go from a struggling health system to a world-leading health teaching and research centre. And there’s the possibility of having a developer build the hospital, so the NHS would just cover the cost of fitting it out.
The current problems in A&E were also on the agenda. I visited William Harvey Hospital last week and heard about all the work being done, with national support from NHS Improvement, to make sure patients are seen and treated more quickly in A&E. GP hours at A&E have been increased, and the whole area is being redesigned – but worrying reports of overcrowding and long waits are still coming in. This was brought up in the update to Jeremy Hunt. The Secretary of State commented on how East Kent was one of a minority of hospital A&Es that have not improved in the last year, and suggested a failure of leadership was a factor.
A 10 minute slot in his diary expanded to half an hour, with the Health Secretary listening carefully to the views of CHEK representatives and giving his own perspective. He emphasised the importance of working closely with the STP (Sustainability and transformation Partnership) for Kent & Medway, which will put in any bids for funding for Kent, the importance of improving care outside hospitals, and particularly increasing number of GPs.