For several months I’ve been raising with Government the need to train more doctors at the Burnley UCLan complex. And I do this for one simple reason - because like many residents I want to see an increase in doctors’ appointments and the backlog come down.
It’s why my latest survey was specifically focused on the healthcare experiences of people within our borough. And is why I’ve been continuing to push, not just for extra funding for our NHS, which is being provided, but a whole scale levelling up of Burnley and Padiham’s healthcare provision.
In the three years I’ve been your Member of Parliament we have made some good progress, including two new endoscopy rooms, state-of-the-art breast cancer screening equipment being provided, surgical robots introduced, and a strategy to improve emergency care.
Working with our local NHS Trust, I’m also pushing for a brand-new radiology centre, with the latest diagnostic machines, linking them up with our surgical theatres to create a diagnostic and treatment hub – all of which will mean patients have their healthcare needs identified and treated quickly.
But this doesn’t matter unless we have the skilled doctors and nurses to run all those facilities. That’s why we need to not just train more but retain more too. This issue was front and centre in Parliament this week, as our current model for doctors’ pensions effectively forces doctors to either retire early, or work for free. We have lost thousands of doctors as a result – including locally – and the forecasts were even worse for how many were going to leave the profession in the next 12 months. That can’t be right.
That’s why I backed the change on Wednesday to get rid of the pension rules which penalise those with the most experience. The British Medical Association, which represents doctors’ interests say this will keep more doctors in our NHS – and recorded more contacting them asking for information on staying after the announcement. Not only is this sensible but combined with an increase in training places will mean better accessibility for those requiring medical attention.
It won’t surprise anyone to know that Labour, who only a few months ago were advocating for this policy, voted against the measure. What might surprise people, however, is that Sir Keir Starmer – who whipped Labour MPs to vote against - benefits from the same pension setup we were giving doctors and others, because of legislation made just for him (the ‘Pensions Increase (Pension Scheme for Keir Starmer QC) Regulations 2013’).
