As the NHS marks its 77th birthday, the Government’s bold new 10-Year NHS Plan for Change is a major step towards rebuilding and renewing our health service.
After years of missed targets, staff shortages, crumbling buildings, and growing waiting lists, we are finally beginning to turn the page.
This is our once-in-a-generation opportunity to create an NHS that delivers faster care, closer to home, and focuses on keeping people healthy, not just treating illness.
It is about long-term reform, not short-term fixes. The plan makes three major changes in how the NHS works: moving more care into the community, using modern technology to cut admin and empower patients, and shifting focus from sickness to prevention.
Already, real improvements are being delivered. In our first year, the Government pledged 1,000 more GPs and delivered nearly double that. We committed to two million extra appointments and achieved more than four million. Waiting lists are now at their lowest point in two years.
Here in Bedford and Kempston, people are starting to see the difference.
Over ten million pounds has gone into tackling urgent repairs at Bedfordshire Hospitals. GP access has improved at King Street Surgery in Kempston, Elstow Medical Centre, and Putnoe Medical Centre.
We opened a new Enhanced Services Centre earlier this year, making it easier for patients to get the care they need under one roof. A Community Diagnostics Centre is now under construction, and more investment is being made to modernise GP surgeries across the country.
We are also working hard to reform how the NHS functions. That includes building a future-fit workforce, improving leadership, and creating a culture of transparency and accountability.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has launched a rapid national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services. For too long, families have suffered in silence after experiencing preventable harm during childbirth. This investigation will uncover the truth, provide answers to grieving families, and help drive the urgent changes needed to ensure that women and babies receive safe and compassionate care.
Alongside this, we are introducing immediate actions to strengthen accountability and improve safety. This is how we begin to put right deep-rooted problems that have built up over 15 years.
Mental health is another priority.
Every school will have access to mental health support, and I continue to press for more investment locally in Bedford and Kempston. We are also recruiting more district nurses, midwives, and health visitors, and expanding access to Women’s Health Hubs in every community.
On social care, we are also taking action. Because we know the NHS cannot be fixed without also fixing social care. An extra four billion pounds has been committed, along with the largest ever expansion of Carer’s Allowance and real career development for care workers.
This is a plan rooted in vision and driven by action. We are putting the NHS back on its feet and building a health service that is fit for the future.
I know there is still much more to do, especially in mental health services, but I also know this: only a Labour Government has the determination, the ambition, and the track record to fix our NHS and restore the trusted, world-class care the British people need and deserve.
This is a monthly guest column provided by
Mohammad Yasin, Labour MP for Bedford & Kempston.
It is published unedited and does not
reflect the views of the Bedford Independent.
