Claire Young calls for Health Secretary to confirm no cuts to local NHS services

Following reports over the weekend that £3bn of NHS costs are unfunded, Thornbury & Yate’s Lib Dem MP is urging the Health Secretary to confirm that there will be no spending cuts to NHS services across South Gloucestershire as we head into the winter months. 

In her letter to Wes Streeting, Claire Young has urged the Government to address concerns over the black hole in NHS finances, and guarantee there will be no cuts to local patient care – warning that the billions of unfunded NHS costs are raising alarm bells for already stretched local health services that communities rely upon.

The move follows the unprecedented warning from NHS Providers and NHS Confederation that £3bn is required to cover staff redundancies, strike action and higher drug prices due to government agreements with President Trump. The organisations have warned the NHS will have to cut back on treatments, worsening waiting lists, and ration care.

These stark warnings come in the wake of news that across the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire NHS Integrated Care Board the number of people waiting more than 14 days for a GP appointment has skyrocketed since 2020, with 761,855 appointments taking longer than a fortnight – up from 310,679 just five years ago.

Claire Young has also urged the Health Secretary to join her for a visit to Yate Minor Injuries Unit and the proposed site for the new Thornbury Health Centre to understand the scale of the crisis in our local health services and to highlight the urgent need to protect funding.

Commenting, Ms Young said: 

“As we head into the winter months, our frontline health and care services will be faced with spiralling waiting lists, delays getting an ambulance, and A&E and GPs stretched thin.

“The news of potential cuts to frontline services is the last thing people across our area will want to hear. Everyone deserves care when they need it - and that can only happen with proper funding. 

“Under the Conservatives shameful neglect our NHS was brought to its knees. But this Labour government’s approach fails to recognise the scale of the challenge, being seemingly more aimed at appeasing Treasury cost cutting drives, and the whims of President Trump, rather than improving patient care. 

“We are left with a mess from top to bottom and patients deserve better. That is why I am calling on the Health Secretary to confirm that our local NHS Trust will not lose a penny in funding and to join me in pushing ahead with plans to finally get spades in the ground for the long-awaited Thornbury Health Centre.”