A year as MP: Campaigning for better healthcare for local people has been a major priority over the last 12 months, says Ian Sollom MP

Since being elected last July, Ian Sollom MP says healthcare has been the biggest concern raised to him by his constituents, including many people struggling to access GPs and dentists. One of the first actions he took on being elected was to join forces with his Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrat colleagues and write directly to the Health Secretary, pressing for better funding for the area.

In the 12 months since being elected, Ian has visited local GP surgeries across the constituency to better understand the challenges they are facing and the barriers preventing them from delivering the care they want to provide. Across the constituency, many surgeries are struggling with capacity pressures, with an urgent need for the provision of new and expanded healthcare services for rapidly growing areas like Northstowe – something Ian has raised with government ministers.  

Ian has regularly made representations to the Integrated Care Board (ICB) on behalf of local GPs, and raised constituent cases brought to him at his weekly surgeries to the ICB and in Parliament.

There has been some positive news, with the recent announcement that Almond Road Surgery in St Neots and Bourn Surgery will benefit from the government's Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation fund, but Ian knows there is still much more to do.

He has also met with the teams at both Addenbrookes and Hinchingbrooke Hospitals to support RAAC rebuilding and the construction of the Cambridge Cancer and the Children’s Hospitals. Although it was welcome news that these projects would be prioritised by the Government, Ian is still pushing for an acceleration to their timelines.

A healthcare case that really resonated with Ian was that of his former constituent, Declan Morrison. During the debate on the Mental Health Bill recently, Ian raised the case of Declan who tragically died after being sectioned and held in a Section 136 suite for 10 days – the maximum time anyone should be held in these emergency placements is 48 hours.

Declan, who was autistic and had learning disabilities, suffered a catastrophic head injury as he was unable to cope with his surroundings. Representing Declan’s family, Ian called on the Government to ensure no autistic person or those with learning disabilities is ever held in in these suites again and urged it to ensure there is more appropriate provision for people like Declan. Ian will continue to represent Declan’s family through the stages of the Bill as it progresses through Parliament.

Ian said: “Over the coming year, I will continue to campaign for a fair deal for our area – both for GPs and for dentists. Residents must be able to access good care, quickly and easily, and our NHS must be in a state to serve our population for years to come.”