It was a pleasure to meet with Julie Smith, CEO of Ashford and St Peter's NHS Trust, and her leadership team last week. We discussed local services, including waiting times, their interaction with other services including primary care and the South East Coast Ambulance Service and challenges around recruitment of staff.
Our NHS is facing many pressures, but staff at St Peter's continue to do a fantastic job delivering for local residents day in, day out. Addressing challenges, particularly around recruitment, is very complex. While we are recruiting many more nurses and doctors, there is still greater need, and the team at St Peter's made it clear that they are fully aware of the potential impact any action they take could have on staffing levels in other areas, particularly community nursing. I am therefore seeking to meet with the Chair of both our local Integrated Care Boards to discuss how we can best address these challenges in a co-ordinated manner across all health services.
I know many people are concerned by delays in accessing NHS services, from GPs to hospital appointments. I will continue to work with every level of our local health service, and in Parliament, to address the challenges we face.
