• Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, visits Derriford Hospital today
• Ashworth: “Luke is a real fighter for the NHS”
• Derriford Hospital is at 99% capacity

Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth has visited Derriford Hospital in Plymouth today, to discuss Labour’s plan to save Plymouth’s care system. Labour will end the privatisation and fragmentation we’ve seen under the Tories, make hospital parking free so patients and staff don’t have to pay and Labour will fund the NHS fairly with a huge cash injection and a 5% pay rise for NHS staff to make up for some of the real terms pay cuts the Tories have given them.

Labour will also make band 1 treatment at the dentist free, encouraging check ups and we will invest in social care to address the crisis there. A Labour government will provide an additional £1.6 billion a year to ensure new standards for mental health are enshrined in the NHS constitution ensuring access to treatments is on a par with that for physical health conditions. And Labour will bring back the nursing bursaries that the Tories scrapped.

Luke Pollard, running for re-election as the MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said:

“Our NHS is in crisis. People in Plymouth are waiting longer for operations and to be seen by their GP. Our local surgeries are closing and the waiting list for NHS dentistry is now at 13,000 people across Plymouth. The reason our NHS is in crisis is not because the staff are not working hard enough – they’re working their socks off – it is because they are being under-funded, privatised and fragmented at a time when we should be valuing their work more.”

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said:

“Luke is a real fighter for the NHS, he brought GPs down to London to lobby me and the Tories. The stuff that he does for the NHS is phenomenal.
Derriford Hospital is at 99% capacity. It needs more funding, it needs more staff, it needs more nurses. It needs a Labour government.

“I know from my own personal experience just how vital the NHS is, how hard working and dedicated the staff are and how much I, and my family, rely on them. This is the time for us to stand up for the NHS.”

Charlotte Holloway, Labour’s Candidate for Plymouth Moor View said:

“Derriford Hospital is a special place – I know this from giving birth there last year. It was a pleasure to show Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth just how incredibly hard our NHS staff work here. But sadly it’s getting more and more difficult due to years of underfunding. As the daughter of a former nurse, I will fight to make sure the NHS gets the proper funding we need, and to stop further privatisation of services here in Plymouth.”