HEALTH Minister, Karin Smyth, visited Taunton today (Sunday, November 24, 2024) to debate with more than 100 people from across Somerset about the future of the NHS.  

Her visit came as latest data shows that 7,000 patients in the county waited more than four weeks for a GP appointment in September 2024. 

The Minister, who is also MP for Bristol South, visited Somerset County Cricket Club with NHS England’s South West Regional Director, Elizabeth O’Mahoney, as part of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan roadshow.

People from across Somerset shared their experience of the NHS with Minister Smyth, and suggested ways to fix the service, which the Health Secretary has previously branded as “broken”.

Speaking to the Somerset County Gazette, the Health Minister commented: “I’m here in Taunton today to hear from people here in the South West about the changes they want to see, to make sure the NHS is fit for the 21st Century.”

“We know that the NHS is broken, and that peoples experience is not what it should be.”

The public engagement exercise, which can be accessed at change.nhs.uk, will help to inform the government’s 10 Year Health Plan and will be published in spring 2025, with three shifts in healthcare: from hospital to community; analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention.

Over 8,000 contributions have already been submitted from people in the South West, and the Health Minister would like to also see some of the 100,00 staff in the region working for the NHS contribute to the consultation.

Minister Smyth stated that the standout concern residents in the South West commented on related to the shift analogue to digital. She said: “Regardless of age, people expect to do things on their phones and do things quite rapidly these days and people don’t really understand why different parts of the NHS don’t talk to each other.”

As part of the visit, the Health Minister also had her blood pressure checked and visited Musgrove Park Hospital’s emergency department to discuss its hospital@home initiative.

Speaking to a doctor at the emergency department, the Health Minister discovered that the doctor “has to log into 10 different systems when seeing a patient…  that’s hard when you’re treating a patient in front of you.”

Another discovery from the consultation for Minister Smyth has been the fact that “Many people are living longer in poor health, and they want to have ways to help themselves do that.”

In Somerset, nearly 70,000 patients are waiting for treatment and 7,000 patients waited more than four weeks for a GP appointment in September 2024 at NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board.

When asked about the figures, the Health Minister reflected that: “People are right to be worried about access to GPs and those waiting lists.”

“I think people do know it is going to take a long time, but we’re not waiting for the 10-Year Plan.”

Minister Smyth also cited short-term actions the government has taken since taking office, with a 22% pay rise to settle the junior doctors’ strike; recruitment of a potential 1,000 GPs; and an additional 40,000 appointments for the NHS, as stipulated in the Autumn Budget 2024.

Pressed on whether the Labour Party genuinely represents the interests of the rural South West, Minister Smyth commented: “We now have the largest representation from rural economies and constituencies here, very starkly, in the South West.”

“People were really fed up with the last administration, and they turned to go for the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party – that’s a huge responsibility for us all.”

There have already been over one million visits to the dedicated NHS consultation website, and the government have confirmed that all submitted ideas will be carefully considered as part of the engagement process.