On 7 September 2018, Anneliese Dodds received a memo from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, inviting her to respond with her views on what more his department could do to help the local NHS Trust serve her constituents of Oxford East.
In response, Anneliese sent a detailed letter back to the Health Secretary, highlighting her concerns about rising demand, staffing levels, and chronic underfunding that is resulting in cancelled operations, overcrowded wards, and the suspension of essential NHS procedures, such as vasectomies. She urged the Health Secretary to take urgent action to address the challenges faced by Oxford University NHS Foundation Trust. Currently funding levels, she suggests, “calls into question the government’s commitment to ensuring healthcare free at the point of use, the founding principle of the NHS”.
Anneliese says: “I am worried that the ‘winter crisis’ might soon become a ‘year-round crisis'”.
“I want to commend all the hard-working staff, whose commitment to providing the best possible care for patients is keeping the NHS afloat. I will continue to do everything in my power to defend our NHS.”