2025: Week 26 - Railways and the NHS
On Tuesday the Government confirmed that the fifth and final phase of the Dawlish rail resilience project would not be funded, and it was placed into what amounts as a “watch and wait” queue. Whilst the scheme so far has provided much needed improvements to the sea wall to protect this vital line, the final phase would have seen the stabilisation of the cliffs between Dawlish and Teignmouth. This stage was crucial to ensure that the line is protected for future generations.
In 2014 when the sea wall breach at Dawlish closed the line for 2 weeks, a land slip at Holcombe caused the railway to be closed for 8 weeks, which not only cut off 50 towns and villages from the rest of the country, but caused a loss to the South West economy of £1.2 billion. It was fortunate that a train wasn’t passing at the time of the landslip, as that could have been catastrophic.
The decision not to fund this final stage of the programme is short sighted, not only for the financial implications for the region and business investment confidence, but also in terms of public safety. Although the Government have committed to continued monitoring of the cliffs and drainage in the area, it is not enough. I’m hoping that we don’t see a worst case scenario in this area, and in the meantime I will continue to pressure the Government on this issue. Please sign my petition to help increase this pressure.
We also saw the Government finally announce their 10 year plan for the NHS.
The Conservatives’ legacy of shocking mismanagement left our NHS on its knees, with patients suffering for unimaginable lengths of time. Although this 10 year plan is a step in the right direction to fix the mess left by the previous Government, it has to deliver real results for patients in meaningful ways; guarantees that a patient can see their GP within 7 days or 24 hours if urgent, start cancer treatment within 62 days from an urgent referral, and get an NHS dentist appointment. I am pleased that the 10 year plan included my changes, which will increased local GP funding.
What is deeply concerning is that the Government is still yet to announce meaningful reform to the social care system. Until that is fixed there is no way to end the crisis in the NHS. We simply cannot afford to wait until 2036 for the Government’s reforms to come into force when so many are going without the care they desperately need.
Without fixing social care, this NHS plan may not work. It appears Labour are borrowing from the Conservative playbook - ignoring the social care crisis because it’s just too hard. But if care and family carers are only ever an afterthought, the Government will never fix the NHS. For all the fanfare today, a truly bold plan to deliver the change that people are crying out for would have had care at its heart. Instead, we got a deafening silence.