Local MPs call for action to tackle Cornwall’s health and care crisis

Andrew George MP visiting Royal Cornwall Hospital in Sept24 ahead of meeting with Health Minister.

Cornwall’s MPs will next week meet health minister  MP in a bid to create an action plan to deal with the county’s severe health and care problems. 

The meeting, at Westminster on Wednesday 11th September, was set up following a request by St Ives Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George, and will be attended by a delegation of all six MPs in Cornwall. 

In preparation for this meeting, the MPs met health chiefs in Cornwall last week, and ministers and officials in the Department of Health and Social Care have been briefed on the issues which the MPs will raise. 

These concerns include: 

•  The detrimental impact of an unfair (for Cornwall) health and care funding allocation formula;
•  The need to address systemic problems within the NHS, which result in very long ambulance queues outside the emergency department at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske;
•  The uncertainty regarding the delivery of the women’s and children’s unit at Treliske;
•  The serious under-resourcing of mental health, bearing in mind that Cornwall has one of the worst suicide rates in the UK; and
•  The substantial dentistry desert, which is having a detrimental impact on families across Cornwall.

Cornwall’s MPs are determined that this meeting will set an agenda for both the government and the health and care service in Cornwall – with objectives which can be achieved during this Parliament. 

Andrew George said, “Like the rest of the country, Cornwall’s NHS and care system has experienced its worst crisis in its 77-year history – patients unnecessarily dying in a gridlocked emergency system; West Cornwall Hospital’s Urgent Treatment Centre closed at night; serious shortages in primary, community and mental health services; and a dentistry desert, with children unlikely to ever see an NHS dentist.  

“We cannot carry on like this. My fellow Cornwall MPs and I are determined to do all we can to help turn things around, to back front-line staff, and to restore our NHS and care services after the mess left by the previous government. It won’t be easy, and we hope the minister will work with us to rebuild.”