Eighteen months ago, the West Berkshire Community Hospital received £3 million of Government funding to develop its diagnostic services, establishing it as one of 40 ‘diagnostic community centres’ across the country. These has enabled it to expand range of onsite testing, so that patients can access multiple scans and tests, leading to earlier diagnoses and better health outcomes.
This is the first of a number of significant developments in local health services that are set to undergo a transformation over the next decade. Last month, the Health Secretary Steve Barclay confirmed in Parliament that the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading was due for reconstruction under the New Hospitals Programme. This means that a new state-of-the-art hospital will be arriving on our doorstep with some of the most advanced medical technologies in the country.
In the last year, I have been working with the Royal Berks on their “Building Berkshire Together” programme which sets out the range of possible options, from an overhaul of the existing site to a completely new hospital in the West Berkshire area. Whilst discussions as to the final form of the hospital remain ongoing (and are complicated by issues with the existing site and its Grade 1 listing), it is now certain that the rebuild will fall into Cohort 4 of the rebuilding programme (slated for 2030) and receive a major chunk of the £20 billion that has been designated to the national programme. This is excellent news for West Berkshire residents for whom the Royal Berks is their nearest general hospital.
In addition, the Prime Minister has announced the details of his Primary Care Recovery Plan, to free up GP time and make it far easier to book appointments via the NHS App. Amongst the new measures announced, pharmacists will be able to prescribe antibiotics for routine health conditions such as ear and urinary tract infections, avoiding the need to see a doctor. This proposal was made to me by West Berkshire’s GPs during a roundtable I held last year, as a way of reducing the amount of GP time on matters non-GPs could deal with. I subsequently raised this issue with the Department of Health and am delighted that it has been implemented.
Further, the Government is harnessing modern technology through the NHS App to make it easier for patients to book appointments and improve patient choice by enabling them to choose which hospital they visit for further care in the event they need treatment, which will cut operation waiting times by 3 months. These are already yielding results: in this year alone, GP appointments made via the app have increased from 30,000 to 250,000 and hospital appointments from 30,000 to 360,000.
In the face of considerable post-pandemic pressure, I am hugely grateful to all the doctors, nurses, pharmacists and staff for their incredible dedication to patient care. These practical changes combined with a GP expansion plan are bringing the backlog down and the future is bright for Berkshire healthcare.