Beds at Winchester Hospital are full and attendance at the emergency department is extremely high, which means there is currently no capacity to admit further patients needing care.
We've been warning about the risks faced by our health services over winter time for years and crises like this are still happening.
We need adequate provision of social care packages so that people can be discharged from hospitals and free up beds for critical patients when they're needed.
The government is insisting on taxing GPs, hospices and social care providers to fund its increase in NHS spending. This seems counter-productive to me.
Why not tax the big banks, tech giants and oil and gas industries instead?
My animal welfare Bill just made a huge step closer to becoming law!
I’d like to thank the Dogs Trust, RSPCA and the British Veterinary Association for supporting this bill and campaigning on this issue for many years, and now Defra who are putting their support behind the Bill too. Also, to all the individual backers across the country who wrote to their MPs asking them to back the bill. I was delighted to see many MPs from across the political spectrum vote with me to move this Bill forward.
Pet mutilations, such as ear cropping, tail docking, and declawing, are still widespread in the UK despite such cruel procedures being illegal. Why? Import of animals that have already had these procedures is still legal. Not only does this create a market for mutilated animals in the UK leading to a flow of animals being transported to the UK under inhumane conditions, but it allows domestic abusers to claim animals were imported even if the procedures had been carried out locally.
The latest data shows that the number of non-commercial movements of pets rose from 100,000 in 2011 to over 320,000 in 2023 - and with it the risk of fraudulent activity. The best way to end the abuse is to shut down the import loophole. My Bill, which has now passed its 2nd reading, will introduce new legislation to do exactly that!
I'd like to pay tribute to Lord Prescott. It must have taken a great deal of courage, especially 15 years ago, for a former merchant seaman and boxer to talk about his eating disorder, from which we know men often suffer from in silence. This is a good day to acknowledge the impact that his openness has had on others to talk about their mental health.
On this Remembrance Sunday, we remember the many veterans from Winchester who have sacrificed so much for us. They joined others from all over the United Kingdom and all over the world to help defend our freedom and our liberty.
We also thank those who fought in more recent conflicts, those who gave their lives, and those who live on. They did their duty, and now we must do ours by looking after them and their families.
Winter is coming. We know it comes every year. It's coming this year, it will come next year.
So what are the government doing to make sure we don't have a planned crisis in the NHS next winter?
You can't fix the NHS without fixing social care. It's cheaper to provide a social care package for someone than it is to keep them in a hospital bed.
My response to Rachel Reeves' Autumn Budget and to the failed Conservative idea of even more cuts.
100 Days Fighting for Winchester and the Meon Valley
It's been (...a little over) 100 days since I became an MP and I've been working hard on the priorities people really care about.
I'll keep fighting to save our A&E and alongside my Liberal Democrat colleagues, I'll be challenging the water companies to clean up their mess. They need to put our precious rivers and streams ahead of profits and stop dumping sewage once and for all.
Danny Chambers Challenges Keir Starmer Over Future of Winchester Health Services
I asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer if the government would guarantee that A&E and Consultant-led maternity services would stay in Winchester.
While I appreciate his recognition of the issue, the people of Winchester still don't have that guarantee.
At Prime Minister's Questions today, I asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer to assure us that Maternity and A&E Services will remain in Winchester and if he can commit to funding the backlog maintenance at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital so services can be provided in a modern, safe facility.
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