What is the new Labour Government's plan for the NHS?

Only 13 per cent were satisfied with social care; record low levels of satisfaction were also recorded with GP services, NHS dentistry, inpatient services, and outpatient services.

This level of dissatisfaction contrasts with the highest levels of satisfaction on record when Labour was last in power in 2010. It is symptomatic of a Conservative Government that spent 14 years implementing austerity, underfunding public services, and failing to push through vitally needed reform.

During last summer's general election campaign, while out canvassing in Shipley constituency, I would repeatedly have conversations on the doorstep about the long waiting times to be seen in the NHS, the difficulties of getting to see an NHS dentist and the frustrations people felt when trying to book an appointment with a GP.

From Baildon to Bingley, door after door, residents told me about how they could not get a GP appointment when needed; they worried that if they called an ambulance, it would not arrive; and that they felt the NHS was not working for them anymore.

Not once, however, did a constituent I spoke with blame the state of the health service on its hardworking and too often undervalued staff. Nor did they question the importance of keeping the NHS tax-funded and free at the point of need. They recognised that the responsibility for this crisis lay firmly with the previous Conservative Government.

But things do not have to be this way. Last month, in the first Labour Budget since 2010, Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out her plan to deliver the change that the people of Shipley constituency voted for. This Budget starts to fulfil the new Government's election promise to get the NHS back on its feet and tackle the problems highlighted in Lord Darzi's independent report, which clearly exposed the decline in quality and outcomes experienced by patients.

Lord Darzi (Image: Aaron Chown) The Chancellor outlined her plan to increase the NHS's day-to-day spending and to provide the service with an additional £25.6 billion over the next two years.

This new funding will immediately improve patient experience in the Bradford district and nationwide.

It will help the NHS offer an additional 40,000 elective appointments each week. This initiative will significantly reduce waiting times and progress towards the commitment that patients should expect to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment.

Last month's Budget also promised much-needed capital investment to upgrade the infrastructure of our health service. New surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners will create capacity to deliver more than 30,000 additional procedures and over 1.25 million diagnostic tests.

And we will soon see the positive impact of the new Government's first Budget in our local community with the RAAC-infested Airedale hospital, which serves my constituents, being given secure funding for its much-needed rebuild.

Airedale Hospital (Image: Newsquest) But it is not just an additional boost in cash that the NHS needs to recover from over a decade of mismanagement from Westminster; we need to change the NHS to focus more on improving health.

The Government has promised to reform the NHS, shifting from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention and from analogue to digital, making the NHS more efficient and effective. More details of the changes will be outlined in the 10-year plan for the NHS in the spring. You can contribute your ideas and highlight best practice via: https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/projects/start-here

Change was the Labour Party's slogan during our election campaign, and change is needed in the NHS, too.

Last June, I was lucky enough to show Wes Streeting, now the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, around Grange Park GP surgery in my constituency in Burley-in-Wharfedale. This great community-centred general practice delivers continuity for patients, group therapy sessions, and on-site counselling. This model of neighbourhood health care is the kind of practice that this Labour Government wants every resident across the country to have access to.

However, to have a truly thriving NHS, we must also invest in social care. This issue is more pressing than ever, with Bradford Council's cost of children's social care services alone now totalling more than its total council tax revenue.

The Chancellor’s Budget brings a much-needed £1.3 billion boost to local authorities, including £600 million specifically for social care grant funding.  Furthermore, the increase in the national living wage will make a meaningful difference in the lives of thousands of care workers: lifting care workers out of poverty and recognising their valuable contribution.

After a decade and a half of cuts, decline and growing inequality, we can begin to see how the NHS will get back on its feet. I am confident that this Labour Government can and will restore the NHS, making it a service everyone across Shipley constituency and the Bradford district can again be proud of.