Stephen Metcalfe, MP for South Basildon & East Thurrock, recently met with the managers from the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust at Basildon Hospital to discuss their actions to improve patient satisfaction and reduce waiting lists.
Stephen raised the key issues facing constituents and discussed the status of local health services. At this meeting, there was a focus on dental care, mental health support, access to GPs, and ambulance waiting times.
On dental care, the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust said that it had secured 119 general dental contracts in the local area and delivered 10% above its contracted activity in 2023/24. This has benefitted 10,000 residents.
On mental health support, the Trust outlined how it had created 13 Mental Health Support Teams who bring their expertise directly to students at local schools. This is in conjunction with 13 new roles in GP practices to support children and young people’s mental health.
On access to GPs, the Trust evidenced that there had been an 8.6% year-on-year increase in GP appointments from 2023 to 2024. In other words, there were an additional 490,000 consultations in GP practices. To increase appointments this year, the number of GPs has been increased from 635 in April 2023 to 656 in February 2024 and the Trust is supporting the implementation of the ‘Modern General Practice’ triaging system which will improve GP access by prioritising urgent conditions and hopefully see an end to the 8am rush.
On ambulance waiting times, the Trust showed that there had been year-on-year improvements. Category 1 response times had reduced from around 10 minutes to 8 minutes, whilst Category 2 response times had reduced from around 1 hour 20 minutes to 39 minutes. However, the Trust also revealed that demand for A&E was 10% higher than normal in March 2024 and this had impacted handover times from ambulance crews. To improve handover times, the Trust said it was using £40 million to increase beds and improve capacity in Emergency Departments.
Stephen Metcalfe said: “This year, Basildon and Thurrock’s local NHS services are receiving a record investment of £2.27 billion. This funding is going to make the system faster and simpler for patients through new Community Diagnostic Centres, surgical hubs, additional beds, and better patient triaging.
I regularly talk with the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust about their strategy to reduce waiting lists and I will continue to meet with them to ensure that patient satisfaction is improving. This is a priority issue for me.”
