General Election: Lib Dem candidate for Bedford backs pledge to fund more GPs

They pledge to give everyone the right to see a GP within seven days, or within 24 hours if they urgently need to, “with 8,000 more GPs to deliver on it”.

The party’s Bedford candidate, Henry Vann, said: “I’m really pleased to see a specific Strategic Small Surgeries Fund [in our manifesto] which will help fund new GP surgeries properly with the capacity in place to expand our GPs estate and make sure that there are places for trainees to train.

“Clearly I don’t know exactly how many of the 8,000 new GPs will be coming to Bedford

“But I know that we lost out on eight training GPs locally because there literally wasn’t the physical space for them to train in.

“People end up having to look around for surgery spaces at present, and we’re actually losing capacity.

“I think we’re 40 per cent below the capacity we should have as a borough by population, according to the Department of Health’s own figures,” he said.

Vann said he has a track record of fighting for the health services in Bedford borough.

“The campaign to save the Putnoe Walk In Centre was hard fought,” he said.

“It was potentially going to close and then what would happen? Those people who can’t get GP appointments end up going to A&E and then they’re clogging up the system elsewhere.

“Actually that walk in centre is absolutely a lifeline for some people, almost literally, at times in terms of getting urgent consultations and diagnosis.

“There’s actually funding committed in the manifesto to build GPs surgeries to give that capacity for new GPs to train, and some of it would definitely come to Bedford.

“Why wouldn’t it, because we are one of the worst served in terms of GP capacity,” he said.

Vann said that not only are more GPs needed, and that funding is needed across the NHS.

“I spoke to a junior doctor who said there was water leaking through a temporary wall next to an MRI machine, which is worth a million quid,” he said as an example.

“It’s confirmed from national figures there’s about £129 million worth of maintenance backlog on the Bedford health estate.

“This isn’t entirely about just building new stuff, it’s also about maintaining and fixing our existing estate.

“Because it would be so much more efficient in terms of space if we weren’t worried about the quality of rooms, or whether this place is suitable for this patient or that patient,” he said.

“I have no doubt that some of the GP funding will come to Bedford if we are successful in this election.

“The more liberal Democrats elected then the more chance that we’ll be seeing that GP capital fund in place,” he said.

The other candidates standing in Bedford are:

Prince Sadiq Chaudhury – Workers PartyPinder Chauhan – ConservativeBen Foley – GreenTarek Javed – IndependentMatt Lansley – Reform UKMohammad Yasin – Labour

The election will be held on July 4.