As I see it: Newark MP Robert Jenrick expresses keen interest in health matters

I take the view that when a Prime Minister asks you to serve in government you should accept and make a contribution, writes MP Robert Jenrick.

Having supported Rishi Sunak in the leadership election and knowing the Prime Minister’s decision that only supporters of hers’ in the contest would serve in her first Cabinet, I was not expecting the call.

Prime Ministers choose their top team and that’s only right.

And so I was surprised to be recalled to the colours earlier this month as Minister for Health.

I’ve always taken a keen interest in health and social care matters, from our local efforts to safeguard Newark Hospital and raise performance at King’s Mill, to serving on the Health Select Committee, to almost three years as Local Government Secretary in which time I worked on all manner of covid-19 interventions, especially those for the vulnerable like the Shielding programme.

The pandemic continues to cast a long shadow over the health service, as we know locally with substandard ambulance response times and difficulties accessing GP appointments in some surgeries.

The root of many challenges is social care and the need to increase capacity there, enabling hospitals to discharge medically well patients.

There is also significant variability in service locally and nationally, from the outstanding to the unacceptable.

On Friday I spent part of the night shift at Nottingham A&E and was impressed by the way they manage patients swiftly from ambulances into the ED, enabling the paramedics to get back on the road quickly.

On the same night delays were far greater at Leicester Royal A&E, which has not yet adopted the same procedures.

I will be visiting Leicester shortly.

These are the sort of issues I will be getting into, to try to improve services locally and indeed across the country.

I’ve always admired the NHS and it’s workforce, but first and foremost I will be a patients champion.

The last week has seen significant disruption on the financial markets, partly global, partly focused on the position of the UK’s public finances. The markets want reassurance that there is a credible plan to balance the books.