Our Man in Westminster

As the country emerges from Covid, it is perhaps inevitable that all parts of the NHS are finding it difficult to get back on an even keel. Many people have contacted me about the difficulties of obtaining an appointment with their GP, and the GPs themselves point out the pressures on them with demand outstripping supply.

This issue alone will take some time to solve. New GPs are being trained, but it takes years to do this, and we then need to attract them to work in our part of the world.

Equally in the headlines have been the pressures on all hospitals. Our own William Harvey has had its fair share of these, but at least I can report that twice in recent months

I have been able to see major improvements being built.

The new critical care unit, which has more beds and the space for up-to-date treatment, is now open and saving lives. By the end of this year it will be joined by phase one of a significantly better Accident and Emergency area.

Again, there will not only be more beds available but each of the booths is much bigger, so that all essential equipment will be available. Learning lessons from

Covid, each space can be isolated in the event of another outbreak, so the hospital will not have to reduce capacity as it did during the pandemic. There will also be a new entrance for ambulances, to make sure patients are handed over as soon as possible, releasing the ambulance for its next call.

This is part of a wider building project that will transform A&E at the William Harvey, something that many of us have been urging on the authorities for many years. It is good, particularly at a time when the NHS is struggling to catch up with the Covid backlog, to see these tangible signs of progress.