I have been working with Islington PCT, local hospitals and GPs to help make Islington healthier.
In my first year as an MP I helped secure the future of Barts Hospital, because I wanted to protect my constituents’ ability to choose to go to the hospital that has looked after them for generations. I raised the issue in Parliament, took it directly to Gordon Brown and made the case with a group of consultants to the Secretary of State for Health. Now a £1 billion rebuild of Barts is now going ahead, which will help ensure Islington residents get the best healthcare. In my Budget speech to Parliament of April 2009 I also pointed out that, “thanks to [the Government’s investment in public services over the past decade], my constituents are benefiting from a new hospital at University College…and new investment in the Whittington hospital.”
I have been working to improve the London Ambulance service, following the tragic death of two constituents, Kayleigh Macilwraith-Christie and Shadi El-Bhnasawy. Working with the families, I took up concerns about these cases with Ambulance Service and Government Ministers. I pressed for changes to how the Ambulance service operates to help prevent similar tragedies in the future.
I am fighting to save Finsbury Health Centre in Clerkenwell, which is danger of being sold off and its services dispersed. Based in a Grade I listed historical and internationally famous building, it was the first integrated health centre and a forerunner of the modern NHS. It provides key community health services for my constituency. I joined local residents in handing in a petition to the Secretary of State for Health, who has now put pressure on Islington Council to try to find a local solution.
I hold women’s health coffee mornings, including one recently with Ann Keen MP, the Health Services Minister, which provide an informal setting for women from my constituency to discuss their views and experiences on the issues that are important to them. I will continue to raise those issues in Parliament and work for better healthcare in Islington.
