Chuka Umunna MP

This week, the NHS is celebrating the shortest waits since its records began – something that would have been unimaginable when Labour came to power 12 years ago. Now, for the first time, in every part of the country, nobody has to wait more than 18 weeks for treatment after being referred by their GP, unless they choose to wait longer or there is a good medical reason. Most people wait less than 8 weeks.  Below, Health Secretary Alan Johnson MP, explains the achievement.

Lambeth Primary Care Trust has been rated as one of the best in England by the Healthcare Commission. Lambeth’s 2007/8 Annual Health Check saw it ranked in the top 7% of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) with only 1 Trust in England scoring higher.

The Healthcare Commission is the independent watchdog for healthcare in England. It assesses the quality and safety of services provided by the NHS to improve services for patients and the public. The Annual Health check is an overall performance rating of local healthcare services, reporting on a Trust’s ‘Quality of Services’ and ‘Use of Resources’.

Lambeth PCT received an ‘Excellent’ rating for use of resources, and a ‘Good’ rating for quality of services. The Healthcare Commission said it found Lambeth is “excellent at managing its finances and has made improvements on its good standard of the last two years”.

The improvements mean Streatham and Lambeth residents are receiving some of the best healthcare services in England.

Chuka congratulated Lambeth PCT on their rating:
“One of the reasons I joined the Labour Party was because it was our post war Labour government that set up the NHS to ensure everyone receives good quality health services regardless of their means. It is fantastic to see our local health service carrying on the best of the traditions of the NHS. All I can say is a huge thank you and congratulations to everyone at Lambeth PCT!”

The full Annual Health Check can be found on the Healthcare Commission’s Website. For more information on healthcare services in the area visit Lambeth PCT’s Website.

Carys Afoko

The Prime Minister’s Labour Party conference speech last week and what it means for Streatham.

At the Labour Party Conference in Manchester last week, Gordon Brown gave a clear message of how he wishes to take Britain forward, outlining his vision of a fairer society. In his speech, the Prime Minister identified new challenges and goals, announcing a series of policies which will make a real difference to the lives of people in Streatham.

From next year, he announced that cancer sufferers will not have to pay any prescription charges, while over the coming years prescription charges will be phased out for all patients with long-term conditions. Cancer is one of the prime causes of premature mortality in Lambeth, so this is hugely important for those people in Streatham who suffer from this terrible disease.

Gordon Brown also announced that free nursery school places will now be offered to all two year olds. When Labour came into power in 1997, nursery provision was only available for the few. Since then we have made great strides by opening Sure Start children’s centres for every community, while 250,000 children have been lifted out of child poverty. Now, the government will introduce legislation to enshrine in law Labour’s pledge to end child poverty .

Schoolchildren will be guaranteed personal catch-up tuition, ensuring that no child is left behind in the essentials of reading, writing and counting. Although the percentage of children leaving Streatham’s primary schools able to read and write to a high standard has increased by 30% since 1997, this announcement of extra tuition reiterates the government’s drive to embed high standards of literacy and numeracy (Chuka is pictured left, outside Sunnyhill Primary school is Streatham where he has been a school governor for several years and sits on the board of its Sure Start children’s centre).

Commenting on Brown’s speech, Chuka said:
“What matters to people are the tangible things a government does which affects their daily lives. Whether you are a young parent with a toddler or an older person fighting the fight against cancer, there was something for you here.”

Happy Birthday to the NHS which is 60 years old today. Today the comedian Jo Brand, a former nurse, said:

“I worked in the NHS in the Eighties, and it was a right balls up. And as a former mental health nurse, it’s good to see Labour taking nurses seriously; keep listening or you never know where a thermometer might end up.” Says it all really.

Below you can watch a video of my colleague, the Labour MP for Watford Claire Ward, walking around Watford General Hospital with her baby, explaining what the NHS has done for her family and how Labour has been investing in the NHS since the party founded it 60 years ago.

I was delighted to welcome Alan Johnson MP, Secretary of State for Health, to Streatham today with Keith Hill MP, for the opening of Gracefield Gardens health and social care centre.

The £8.9m landmark building, situated just off Streatham High Road, opened its doors in the New Year and provides NHS primary care services, including GPs, and a Lambeth Council customer centre providing advice and information to local people on council services.

The funding for the scheme was part of a £30m construction and refurbishment programme across Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham under the NHS local improvement finance trust (LIFT) initiative announced in August 2002.

One of the reasons I chose to join the Labour Party was because it was the post war Labour government (1945-51) which set up the NHS to ensure equality of health service provision and a truly national service for all (instead of a piecemeal provision, which had existed across the country up to that point). It is worth remembering that that Labour government led by Clement Attlee set up this national treasure in the face of opposition from other parties.

The NHS celebrates its 60th anniversary on 5 July 2008 and what better way to mark this than with the opening of this fantastic new centre. Labour has trebled investment into the NHS to £100bn since 1997 but big numbers mean little to the every day person on the street in my view – it is tangible things like this centre which people can see and use which demonstrate the return on that investment and the positive difference that can be made locally. (The Prime Minister’s wife, Sarah Brown, is pictured, right, at the centre earlier this year)