Local healthcare is worth fighting for

The council already takes steps to ensure people stay fit and active for longer by providing high-quality leisure facilities and country parks and health initiatives to reduce smoking, manage weight and improve mental health.

And now, I have written to the Health Secretary, alongside the local branch of the NHS, the Integrated Care Board (or ICB) for Bedfordshire, Luton, and Milton Keynes, urging a meeting to discuss the Government's aims and priorities.

We believe one of the best ways to keep people healthy for longer is to provide more healthcare facilities close to home. Already in Dunstable, the new integrated health and care hub – Grove View, allows residents to meet with GPs but also a variety of other health and social care services such as musculoskeletal services, blood tests, podiatry, counselling and mental health services and many more.

In other areas, health hubs also include outpatient and vaccination clinics, physical health screenings for conditions such as cancer, and services to support specific groups such as those with severe mental illness (SMI).

We'd like to ensure this can be the case in our other big towns such as Biggleswade, Leighton Buzzard, Ampthill and Flitwick, and Houghton Regis.

Of course, such facilities do not come cheap. Grove View cost £25million.

Health hubs have seen more patients making their appointments, higher levels of patients reporting improvements in their conditions, and reductions in re-admission rates to services.

I believe this is worth fighting for and I'll keep pushing the Government to do more.