As many of you will know I've been carrying out an NHS survey across the Town over the past few months. I'm currently looking through the results. There are many positives. We're lucky to have such a fantastic hospital and I'm pleased to see that 90% of people who have recently paid a visit to the hospital rate the quality of care they received highly.
Unsurprisingly the news is more mixed when it comes to how easy it is to book a GP appointment. Overall 45% have found it easy to book a GP appointment, 28% have found it difficult. Another interesting finding are the results when it comes to how people would like any extra resources on the NHS to be spent. The top two were: Improving GP services (23%) and more staff (23%). Of course the two are linked.
A major reason why people find it difficult to book a GP appointment is the fact that we need more GP's in our area.
When I met with the Chair of the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) earlier this year, this was my key take home. I'm a strong supporter of our NHS and realise how important health services are to Ipswich residents, particularly some of the most vulnerable. I will continue to call for more funding of the NHS and for steps to be taken to improve GP services and the recruitment of GPs in our area. The current Government have demonstrated their support for the NHS through record levels of investment but there are always further improvements that can be made.
Tom - pictured with the Ipswich Hospital CEO.
