Political Opinion: Jon Pearce Column: I don’t just want to save our services – I want to see them improve
Since this Government was elected, NHS waiting lists are down by 320,000 – with 86,000 falling in November alone. The biggest single month drop in a decade.
I know many of you reading this will still be waiting for care, and these improvements don't diminish individual frustrations. But they do show one undeniable fact: we're turning the corner on decline.
We're seeing this progress locally too. Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust's waiting lists are down 4,339 since the election, and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust's have fallen by 3,240.
The NHS is very personal to me. My wife, mother, and pretty much my whole family have worked for it. So I know firsthand it's a pressurised workplace like no other, and the extraordinary commitment and care NHS workers provide.
But that care depends on people being able to access it and that is why protecting the services our communities rely on is so important. Services at Buxton Hospital – including respiratory care, urology, and the pain clinic – remain under threat. I’ve raised this issue with Stepping Hill, Derbyshire Care Board and ministers directly. I've managed to force them into pausing these plans, but the battle isn't over. Nearly 1,000 residents have signed my petition, but we need more voices to show decision-makers we will not quietly lose the services our community depends on.
Sign my petition here: https://www.jon4highpeak.com/help-me-protect-local-nhs-services-in-high-peak/
We’ve already proved that when we work together, we can win. This month, East Midlands Ambulance Service scrapped their proposals to reduce ambulance cover – plans that would've seen residents waiting 35 minutes in blue light emergencies. I raised this with ministers and EMAS directly, but this victory wouldn't have been possible without the brave whistle-blowers who put their necks on the line to do the right thing. We owe our first responders so much.
I don’t just want to save the services we have. I want to see them improved. We were all disappointed when the last Government cancelled the long-promised health hub for Buxton. It would have been a gamechanger for healthcare locally. But I haven’t given up the fight. I have raised it in Parliament and met with the Health Secretary as recently as last week to make the case for it. I can promise you this: if I fail to revive it, it won’t be for the lack of trying.
We're turning a corner, and together we'll continue to fight for High Peak's fair share and better healthcare for all.