Derek Thomas MP weekly column April 3rd 2024

Work is progressing on the Outpatient Department at West Cornwall Hospital. This has been something we have wanted for years so I was pleased to meet the contractors and pleased to see work underway. This week, we received the fantastic news that funds to build the Integrated Healthcare Hub on Scilly are now secured. Work has already begun to secure the ‘off-site’ building and the logistics of delivering and erecting the building is exercising bright minds at Cornwall NHS Foundation Trust. Both the Integrated Care Hub on Scilly and West Cornwall Hospital Outpatient Department is testament to a close and constructive working relationship between NHS Managers, local partners, myself, and the Department of Health. Both promise a better environment for the NHS team and more opportunities to have your outpatient appointment closer to home. Both are due for completion a year from now.

For Scilly, the Integrated Healthcare Hub will enable a model of care that will be great for residents and also a blueprint on how health and care services could be integrated in rural settings. So much is going on in the NHS - I joined nursing staff at Helston Community Hospital for the unveiling of the Veterans Aware Plaque. Helston Community Hospital was opened 101 years ago as a lasting memory to soldiers lost in the First World War. This legacy is not forgotten -: the Veterans Aware Status Plaque acknowledges the staff for their hard work to support and promote veteran and their families' affairs. For years I’ve sought to pull every string to ensure access the dental care we need. There are a number of local initiatives which have increased the appointments available for NHS dental care especially for children. Adjacent to this is the Government’s Dental Recovery Plan, intending to increase access NHS dentistry. In summary, the plan ensures that any available appointment is advertised, children and people waiting for an appointment for a long time will get an appointment, Dental Therapists can now carry out a wider range of dental care, dentists will be paid more to carry out treatment and the process of dentists travelling from overseas to work in the NHS will be simplified. I’m also working with local dentists and commissioners to set up more dental practices in the constituency. Hidden from view (and the media interest) are Community Pharmacists. Recently the Government acknowledged their vital role by commissioning the Pharmacy First model which allows you to get treatment for earache, impetigo, shingles, insect bites, sinusitis, sore throat and urinary tract infections in women without the need to see a GP. Soon after being elected to Parliament, I secured a parliamentary debate in support of pharmacists. I’m now supporting the ‘Save our Pharmacies’ campaign calling for reform of the way community pharmacy is funded. For example, the funding model does not mitigate for the fluctuation in the cost of medicines to pharmacies which means the practice can often lose money when delivering a prescribed drug to a patient.