Westminster Report

BY Southend West MP Anna Firth – PUTTING Southend’s health at the front and centre:

The community will likely be familiar with my campaign to make Southend West safer, healthier and wealthier.

It has been a particularly successful fortnight for the ‘healthier’ strand of this endeavour, with visits to fantastic new services in Southend and hosting local charity Lady McAdden in Westminster, well as consistent promotion of Southend’s innovative healthcare practices regularly in the Commons.

I was delighted to visit Southend Hospital to see the new Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) they are about to put in place.

It is wonderful that this is the first clinic in the UK to receive a single dedicated  FLS service, which will greatly support consistent, outstanding care to be delivered across mid and south Essex.

The service will see those who have suffered an unexpected fracture, find out why the fracture was caused, and intervene to prevent further fractures.

Patients are assessed for osteoporosis and, where appropriate, are given lifestyle advice and started on bone protection. Focusing efforts upon fracture prevention drastically saves hospital resources; for every £1 spent on FLS, £3.26 is saved by the NHS. The new FLS will save local authorities £420,000 and save primary care £23,000, which is truly wonderful news.

It was also fantastic to meet with the Atrium Clinic in Southend, who offer outstanding mental health support to the workplace in a range of formats. They do incredible forensic counselling work throughout prisons, and work with local schools in Southend and Cambridge supporting staff and children with mental health. They see people face to face in Westcliff and provide online services for individuals and businesses to reach out and gain the vital support they need, and I hope very much that businesses continue to take them up on their incredible work.

I was delighted to have Southend-based charity Lady McAdden, alongside Estée Lauder in Westminster on October 17 in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Lady McAdden are the only breast cancer charity in the UK to offer one-to-one support with a nurse in an awareness appointment and perform vital work for the community to promote early detection of breast cancer through providing education, advice, and awareness.

Estée Lauder’s breast campaign founded the pink ribbon and had ambassadors who spoke about the various work being done to further breast cancer awareness. To top off the excitement of bringing Southend’s brilliant campaigning spirit to Westminster, Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House, congratulated Lady McAdden for their amazing work when I brought them to her attention in the Chamber and asked for a debate on the future of breast cancer awareness.

I have also brought the ‘Missing Millions’ of Southend Hospital’s funding to the attention of the Commons for the eleventh time on October 24. £118 million of capital investment was promised to South Essex hospitals in 2017, with £52 million earmarked for Southend.

Having already secured £8 million of funding last year, which is already going towards Southend’s emergency department and supporting the Trust to meet demand this winter, I will continue to spearhead the campaign to deliver the rest of the funds and called for Ministers to deliver them at the best possible speed.

In addition to pressing the need for the remaining monies to be delivered, I also praised the incredible community care models we have in the community, including the brilliant Belfairs pharmacy and French’s Pharmacy, run by Mr Mohamed Fayyaz Haji – ‘Fizz’ – and the wonderful Haven’s Hospice, which do such a fantastic job at reducing the pressures on our NHS and providing direct care in the community at the earliest moment it is needed.

In Southend West, we have an average age that is 20 percent higher than England as a whole, we have seen the number of people aged 70-74 rise by 37 percent in the past 10 years and we now have nearly 2000 people over the age 90.

The triple whammy of people living longer, but not necessarily always healthier, coupled with more and more people working full-time, means that good quality nursing care and end of life treatment will increasingly become a necessity.

It is vital that the promised £110 million is delivered, alongside increased care in the community and an integrated health service which takes advantage of the benefits offered by the charitable sector, which can reduce pressure on front-line health services.

We have wonderful community programmes in Southend, and all of this is deliverable. I am excited to continue to work closely with the Government to ensure that it is – and that Southend West is made safer, healthier and wealthier for years to come.

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