In My View: Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic our doctors, nurses, radiographers, physiotherapists and other health professionals worked exceptionally hard under the most challenging of circumstances to keep us all safe.

It was physically and mentally exhausting work and had a huge impact on everyone who worked in our hospitals, GP surgeries or out in the community visiting patients at home.

Our NHS entered the Covid-19 pandemic fundamentally weakened after the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in government from 2010 had reduced resources, failed to prepare for the challenges to come and taken deliberate decisions to not train enough of the next generation of doctors, nurses and other health workers.

The previous Labour government invested in our hospitals, GP surgeries and new doctors and nurses and brought down waiting lists so that patients were seen quickly and operations carried out in a timely manner.

But since 2010 under the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats waiting lists had been continuously rising right up until the start of the pandemic.

Just a month ago a friend of mine and a local constituent in his 80s slipped and fell, badly damaging his knee and had to go to Accident and Emergency.

He had to wait 18 hours in pain in the emergency clinic before a bed could be found so that he could have the surgery needed to fix his knee.

This is unacceptable for patients and staff alike – no healthcare professional wants to see patients waiting like this for the treatment and care they need.

Yet this is the price that we are paying for 13 years of austerity and under-investment in the NHS, with staff and services stretched to breaking point.

Labour has a clear and costed plan to start work on turning around the state of our Health Service.

We will deliver one of the biggest NHS workforce expansions in history by doubling the number of district nurses qualifying each year, training more than 5,000 new health visitors, creating an additional 10,000 nursing and midwifery placements every year and doubling the number of medical school places.

Every resident and every member of NHS staff deserves so much better than this Conservative government has delivered.

Labour turned around the NHS when we were in government before, and we will do so when we are in government again.