In our latest MP’s column, Bambos Charalambous decries increasingly long waits for NHS treatment

A very happy new year to everyone in Enfield. I hope you all enjoyed a restful break over the festive period and are looking forward to everything 2023 holds.

Looking back on 2022, it was quite a year in British politics. In Enfield, we had local elections in May and Labour retained control of the council as the party made significant gains across the country, including in neighbouring Barnet.

We also watched on in horror at Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Since the war began last February, more than 120 Ukrainians and their families have been welcomed into the homes of Enfield residents. It has been incredibly moving to see how welcoming our community has been to those fleeing this horrific conflict.

In Westminster, there was a lot of political turmoil. For those struggling to keep up, we had three prime ministers, four chancellors and four budgets.

With all this upheaval at the top of government, the UK’s economic outlook has continued to get more challenging. We face the lowest growth of any OECD nation. Living standards are set to fall by 7.1%, the largest decline in six decades, while food and energy costs are all going up. It is a very difficult time for people across the UK and of course it will be the most vulnerable who face the worst impact of the cost of living crisis.

As we start the year, I want to focus on one of the biggest challenges facing our community and people across the UK: the crisis in our NHS. This is something that is coming up again and again in my casework. According to recent data, 3,933 people had to wait more than two weeks for a GP appointment locally. Across the UK, seven million people are waiting months and even years for treatment. This has a devastating impact on their day-to-day lives, as they are held back from working and living their lives to the full.

This is not down to NHS staff, who continue to go above and beyond to protect people. The problems the NHS faces today are the consequence of twelve years of Conservative mismanagement. The longer we give the Tories, the longer patients wait.

As your MP, I’ve been supporting calls for a long-term plan to fix our NHS, as I do not believe we can build a healthy economy without a healthy society. This starts with investing in our NHS workforce, which faces record vacancies.

That’s why, last month, I voted to close the ‘non-dom’ tax loophole and use this money to train a new generation of healthcare staff, including doubling the number of nurses and doctors. There are around 44,000 non-doms in the UK, who are using a 200-year-old loophole to pay their taxes overseas. I believe patients need treatment, and NHS staff need support, more than the wealthiest need a tax break.

I will continue to hold the government to account so that patients in our community are seen on time and local NHS staff are supported in the future.

Bambos Charalambous is a Labour MP for Enfield Southgate. If you are a constituent, you can get in touch:

Call 0207 219 3460
Email [email protected]
Visit bambos.org.uk

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