In July, MP hopeful Pippa Heylings pledged to put the NHS front and centre and get a better deal for Cambridgeshire as part of her campaign to become South Cambridgeshire’s local champion in Parliament. Today – just 100 days since she won the election – local NHS issues remain the MP’s top priority and are even more important with Labour’s cuts placing the local Cancer Hospital at risk.

Pippa has written to the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, to press the case for the construction of the Cambridge Cancer Hospital which would benefit local residents and people across our region. She will be meeting with the Minister of Health, Karen Smyth, on Thursday (17th October) to explain the importance of the Cancer Hospital and the very strong case to co-locate it with the biomedical campus facilities that are pioneering vital research.

In Parliament, Pippa gave her maiden speech before the summer recess - highlighting the plight of South Cambridgeshire residents facing huge difficulties due to healthcare provision, water shortages and local environmental challenges.

Pippa Heylings, Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire, said: 

“My top priority in these first 100 days has been responding to residents and listening to their concerns. As well as fighting for our Cancer Hospital, my team and I have dealt with 2,324 emails and have opened 349 pieces of individual casework. I am proud of the work we have done so far but there is much more work to do.

“Whether it’s fighting for a fairer funding deal for our GPs, nurses and dentists, taking on the water companies to protect our rivers and chalk streams, or working to address the rising cost of living, we’re listening to what people are telling us and taking action on the issues that matter.

“After years of Conservative failure, the first 100 days is only the beginning and we are just getting started to deliver real change for our area. Saving the Cambridge Cancer Hospital will remain my number one priority.

“I’m excited to keep fighting on behalf of people here in South Cambridgeshire – championing key local issues all year round, not just at election time.”

In one of their first votes in Parliament, the new Liberal Democrat MPs for South Cambridgeshire, Ely & East Cambridgeshire and St Neots & Mid Cambridgeshire have voted together, supporting an amendment to the King's Speech which would see action taken on sewage dumping, cost of living and the NHS

The new MP for South Cambridgeshire, Pippa Heylings said she was proud to back the Liberal Democrat amendment to the King’s Speech, in particular its focus calling on the Government to ‘stop the scandal of sewage dumping, against which the previous Government failed to take action, including by replacing Ofwat with a new regulator’.

She said; “One of the key issues that residents are horrified by in South Cambridgeshire is the dumping of raw sewage into our treasured chalk streams such as the Rivers Mel, Rhee, Shep and Granta.

“I have campaigned long on this issue and I am proud to have used one of my first votes to urge the Labour government to go further, calling on them to stop this scandal - caused by a failure of Government to get tough - by replacing Ofwat with a new regulator which has the power to rein in the water companies and get them to clear up their mess.”

Another section of the Liberal Democrat amendment pledged ‘to support families with the cost of living and tackle poverty, including by introducing a national food strategy, extending free school meals to all children in poverty, and by scrapping the two-child benefit cap, and to ensure that rural communities and farmers receive adequate support’.

Charlotte Cane, MP for Ely & East Cambridgeshire said: “The two-child benefit cap creates avoidable poverty for children and families across the country. Scrapping this policy will not only help thousands of children, but also help parents find better employment opportunities.

“Labour may have set up a new Child Poverty Commission, but children in poverty simply cannot wait for this Commission to report before the two-child cap on benefit payments is lifted.”

The Lib Dem amendment also proposed ‘the introduction of a legal right to see a GP within seven days, a guarantee for cancer patients to start treatment within 62 days from urgent referral, free personal care in England, better support for carers, and a cross-party commission on social care’.

Ian Sollom, the new MP for St Neots & Mid Cambridgeshire said; “Years of chaos and dysfunction have left our NHS its knees, our local services at breaking point, and patients facing long and worrying waits for diagnosis and treatment. 

“In the election, residents were clear with me just how difficult accessing primary care has become, with getting to see their GP an 8am phone lottery and NHS dentists few and far between. That’s why the Liberal Democrats put health at the heart of our manifesto.

“Fixing the NHS and care is a vital step in repairing the damage the Conservatives have done to the economy.”

The Conservatives and SNP both failed to vote for the measures put forward by the 72-strong Liberal Democrat grouping in Parliament

 

Cambridgeshire’s new Lib Dem MPs write to Health Secretary calling on government to use pledged new investment in GPs to ‘deliver a fairer GP funding formula for Cambridge’

Pippa Heylings, Ian Sollom and Charlotte Cane, the trio of newly elected Lib Dem MPs in Cambridgeshire have written to the Health Secretary Wes Streeting calling on him to use the pledged new money for primary care to invest in the GPs of Cambridgeshire, after he announced the government would be redirecting billions to “fix the front door” of the NHS.

During the General Election campaign Charlotte, Pippa and Ian emphasised time and time again how Cambridgeshire desperately needs fairer funding for local doctors surgeries, with residents highlighting their struggles to see a GP.

Whilst the Health Secretary has promised to redirect billions into primary care to “fix the front door” of the NHS, Pippa, Ian and Charlotte have said that their constituents would not see the true benefits of this unless the Government fixes the funding formula which sees Cambridgeshire receive the lowest funding per person in the entire country.

The letter, addressed to the Health Secretary, on behalf of the residents of East, Mid and South Cambridgeshire requests a meeting with Mr Streeting to ask him “how your government intends to bolster the recruitment and retention of GPs and the steps necessary to deliver a fairer GP funding formula for Cambridgeshire, and how can we work together to achieve this.”

Alongside calling for much-needed investment in Cambridgeshire's health services, the new MPs have also led the calls for an Emergency Health and Care Budget in order to get urgent investment into the NHS which has been brought to its knees through years of the previous Conservative government’s neglect. The Lib Dem’s proposed Emergency Health and Care Budget includes measures such as free personal care for all those who need it, boosting GP numbers by 8,000 and a significant increase to the number of cancer nurses.

Pippa Heylings, MP for South Cambridgeshire said:

“Primary and community healthcare is a vital pillar of our NHS. Dr Adrian Boyle, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, who also works at the world-famous Addenbrooke’s hospital in South Cambridgeshire, emphasised this to us – highlighting how vital it is for reducing the pressure on our hospitals and A&Es and cutting waiting lists. 

This is a personal issue for me, as it is for so many others – it was a local GP who saved my husband's life, first spotting unusual blood results which led to the successful diagnosis and treatment of his leukaemia - and he is among many who have regular ongoing tests.

Sadly, I know from my recent Healthcare survey that 60% of South Cambridgeshire residents find it difficult to access a GP. We can’t carry on like this - the Government must take urgent action.”

Ian Sollom, MP for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire said:

“I spoke to thousands of people during this campaign, and time and time again the same story kept coming up. People are struggling to access the services that are so vital for their health.
In Cambridgeshire, funding for GP services has been frozen since 2017. That is why we have written to the Health Secretary to ask him for a fair funding deal for Cambridgeshire”

Charlotte Cane, MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire added:

“The Conservatives have brought the NHS to its knees, and it is the patients who have suffered. Here in East Cambridgeshire we are blessed to have some fantastic GPs, but they have not received anywhere close to the funding and support that they need. That is why we are calling upon the Secretary of State to deliver fairer funding for Cambridgeshire.”