Celebrating the NHS at 60

Dear Constituent As a local lad, I can look back on the past few decades on the NHS in Gillingham and Rainham, and it makes me proud to see how far things have come. A hospital with Foundation Trust status so it can be even more responsive to local needs, plus more doctors, more nurses, greater facilities than ever before. Now we’re also getting a new GP-led walk-in centre at the heart of our community. So let’s celebrate the NHS at 60 and look forward to another six decades of the best healthcare system in the world. Best wishes

Inside this edition > How your health service is improving, have your say in Paul’s survey, and the view from the local health boss on your NHS in Medway

MP congratulates NHS on its 60th birthday and looks ahead to the future. This year marks sixty years of the National Health

Service. Paul has been out in Gillingham and Rainham

to offer his support to hardworking NHS staff who

continue to provide a fantastic healthcare system.

The latest figures for Medway show that things are

improving. Over the last ten years, treatments have

improved and life expectancy is up. The NHS budget

has trebled this last decade.

All around there is evidence of an improved NHS. The

new Rainham Health Centre; the Will Adams NHS

Treatment Centre; the new MacMillan Cancer Care

Unit now underway; and radiology services being

upgraded at the Medway Maritime Hospital.

Looking to the future, an NHS Constitution has been

announced and the Government has published its

report into the next stages of the NHS, setting out

the future for all NHS services in England.

You can find out more by visiting Paul’s website at www.paulclarkmp.com

Paul Clark MP National Health Service Update Page 2

In Good Shape

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Paul Clark MP For help and support

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Gillingham ME7 2YN

In an emergency always call 999

NHS Direct for advice and support

24 hours a day call:

08 45 46 47

Or visit online: www.nhsdirect.com

NHS Choices for information about all

NHS services in your

area visit:

www.nhs.uk

The Patient

Advice and Liason

Service (PALS) supporting patients

and answering your

questions about the

NHS

Visit online: www.pals.nhs.uk Or Phone:

01634 382792

Despite what you might read in some newspapers, the NHS is performing better than

ever. We have more nurses, more doctors, and greater resources than ever before.

Take a look below at some of the facts about the NHS in Medway, taken from the 2008 NHS Health Profile for our area.

Your NHS in Medway:

You will no doubt have heard a great deal about so-called ‘polyclinics’ over the past few

months. I think this is a good opportunity for me to dispel some of the myths about polyclinics

and explain what is really happening.

The polyclinic idea was put forward by Ara Darzi, an eminent surgeon who pioneered keyhole

surgery and the use of robots in medical operations. He had been asked by the Government to

develop a new system of healthcare for London. As London is such a differently organised city

to the rest of England, its needs from the NHS are different. There never was and there isn’t

any plan to expand the polyclinic model outside of London. It is not a system that has been

designed for any other part of England.

Instead, what we are getting in Gillingham and Rainham is a new GP-led walk-in health centre

that is open longer than most GP surgeries, and can offer a wide range of services at short

notice. This is in addition to our existing GP surgeries and will widen the number of services

available to everyone in our communities.

What is a polyclinic? Paul Explains:

The changing face of the NHS in Medway Improvements in the past five years:

Paul Clark MP National Health Service Update Page 3

Any Questions? Email Paul: clarkp@parliament.uk

The NHS at 60 Vernon Hull, Chairman of the Medway Maritime NHS Trust looks forward to the next 60 years of the NHS.

The NHS is 60! It is quite right this anniversary is getting a lot of attention because no

other development in the Country's history has had such a direct impact on the lives of

everyone in Britain.

We take it for granted that if we fall ill or need care the NHS will be there. But it was not

always the case and before the NHS, the quality of healthcare you received depended

largely upon your ability to pay.

Here in Medway we have seen huge improvements in the range and quality of care over

the course of the last sixty years. We have more GPs, new health centres and all sorts of

community based health services. The Hospital has been transformed since the days when

it was a naval hospital. We are now living longer and healthier lives than ever before.

However, as far as the NHS goes, becoming 60 years of age does not mean it can put its

feet up. There are still huge health challenges. Some of these challenges barely existed

when the NHS was a baby - such as obesity.

Other challenges are the result of the success of the NHS - we are an ageing society and

the longer we live the more healthcare we require.

So there is till much to do. But it is right that we should take time to celebrate what the

NHS has achieved now it is 60. The fundamental principles on which the NHS was funded

remain as relevant as ever. Your access to health care should not be determined by your

ability to pay but by need.

Happy birthday NHS

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A New GP-Led Walk-in Centre in Gillingham Opening soon from 8am-8pm, 7 days a week. A new NHS Centre to redevelop part of Canterbury Street. There when you need it.

The Will Adams NHS Treatment Centre Having carried out thousands of operations already, the Will Adams Centre has helped to increase choice and cut waiting times.

Healthy Living Centres across Medway Lottery-funded and offering a wide and range of services to thousands of patients. Medway has three centres already.

Training for the Future: The School of Pharmacy A unique collaboration between the University of Greenwich and the University of Kent, training future NHS professionals for Medway.