Health Spokesperson Welcomes New ICS

On the 74th birthday of the NHS, The Medway Labour and Co-operative have welcomed the new Integrated Care System for Kent and Medway.

Cllr Teresa Murray, Deputy Leader of the Medway Labour and Co-operative Group said:

“Last Friday marked the introduction of the new ICS for Kent and Medway, and I welcome the opportunity to work more closely with the NHS as the integration of health and care has long been a desirable Labour objective because we believe social care should have parity of esteem with Health. As things stand, social care workers are paid much less than NHS colleagues and often have poor working conditions with few protections even though they work in a wide variety of settings including patients’ homes.  During the pandemic we sadly saw how badly care homes were treated when they were forced to take covid infected patients to support hospitals without  first being given the equipment and protections needed to keep everyone safe.

“Medway Labour expects the ruling Tory administration to take their seats at the ICS table and fight for decent NHS services in Medway and we will be supporting them to do so as well as holding the ICS to account. We also want patients’ voices to be listened to when services are being scrutinised or redesigned .Our priority is to get improvements in GP services for everyone in Medway and we are aware that there is disparity of service across our own borough which must be addressed. NHS colleagues are publicly showing commitment to greater partnership working but in the past this has not extended to properly shared budgets nor have the persistent health inequalities we have in Medway been successfully addressed. I wish the ICS success and look forward to holding them to account on their promises.”

Cllr Vince Maple, Leader of the Medway Labour and Co-operative Group added:

“This week we celebrate the 74th Birthday of the National Health Service, the greatest creation by a Labour Government.  It is vitally important that we see a service fit for the 21st Century and with a strong focus on the needs for Medway.  I hope we see further progress made with the introduction of the ICS for Kent and Medway making sure both health and care make real improvements.  We know these issues are important to local residents from our inboxes and conversations we have had on doorsteps across Medway.”

ENDS

Notes

More information about the joining up of Health and Social Care can be found in this video – https://vimeo.com/724960755