Henry Smith, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Crawley, has been supporting £550 million of funding for the NHS to improve access to GPs, modernise GP surgeries and improve out-of-hospital care. Henry said; “Despite Ed Miliband’s health spokesman’s constant scaremongering, this Government have increased NHS funding by a total of £12.7 billion, across each of the last five years. “These plans will see, by March 2016, 18 million people being offered more evening and weekend appointments. Alongside video, email and telephone consultations, these will reach the equivalent of 8,000 more appointments a day.” The funding will also go towards greater access to pharmacists, nurses and speech therapists from local GP surgeries. More than 8.5 million people will see redevelopment of their existing practices, to increase clinical space and offer additional services. There will also be more personalised advice from pharmacists who will be able to access medical records; and more tests, treatments and services offered closer to people’s homes, including minor operations and blood tests. The £550 million of funding comes from a £100 million addition to the existing £50 million Prime Minister’s Challenge fund, £250 million of infrastructure funding for new buildings, treatment rooms and IT, and a £200 million transformation fund for 29 pilots to integrate services offered by hospitals, GPs, and care homes. Since 2010, there are nearly 9,500 more doctors, over 6,900 more nurses, and more than 2,100 more midwives in the NHS, and almost 7,000 fewer managers in the health service than under the previous government. Follow Henry daily via: www.facebook.com/HenrySmith4Crawleywww.twitter.com/HenrySmithMPwww.youtube.com/HenrySmithMPwww.henrysmith.info NotesPrime Minister’s Challenge FundThe £100 million addition to the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund will support 1,417 practices across the country. It means that 10 million more people will be offered increased access to their GP services. This follows the success of an initial £50 million fund, covering more than 1,100 practices, which improved access for 7.5 million people. Early evidence shows this has helped reduce A&E attendances, and relieve pressure on GP surgeries. Infrastructure fundThe £250 million infrastructure fund, originally announced in the Autumn Statement, will enable more than 1,000 practices to build new integrated health centres, make better use of technology and create more space to offer more appointments. The fund will support some practices to offer a wider range of additional services including onsite pharmacists, speech therapists, minor surgery, and diagnostic tests. The infrastructure fund will also pay for a £10 million GP workforce plan which helps set a clear direction for the future of general practice. The plan will make it easier for GPs to return to the profession following a career break, encourage more medical students to take up careers as GPs and offer GPs considering early retirement the option to work reduced hours with reduced workloads. Transformation fundThe £200 million transformation fund was announced in the Autumn Statement to start the innovation needed to ensure a sustainable NHS in future. Earlier this month NHS England announced the first 29 areas of the country receiving a share of the money to redesign care in their areas. ENDS Henry SmithConservative Parliamentary Candidate for Crawleywww.henrysmith.info As Parliament has now been dissolved there are no MPs until after the 7th May 2015 General Election. Phone: 01293 934554Email: [email protected] www.facebook.com/HenrySmith4Crawleywww.twitter.com/HenrySmithMP www.youtube.com/HenrySmithMP