Mr Whittingdale been contacted by constituents over the past month about NHS waiting times and the disruption that Covid has had to treatment.
To illustrate the disruption caused by Covid to local NHS services, the number of patients waiting more than 52 weeks for hospital treatment in the Mid and South Essex area was 324 in March last year. From reaching a peak of 8,500 in March this year, the number was later reduced to around 7,000 at the beginning of May, which is welcome progress.
To bring down the waiting times further, in June, the local NHS will also have three additional mobile operating theatres – one at Broomfield Hospital, one at Southend and another at Basildon – to help ease the backlog.
Constituents in the Maldon area have also reported some difficulty getting through to their GP to make an appointment.To investigate the matters raised further, Mr Whittingdale has arranged a meeting with Dan Doherty, Alliance Director at the Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group to discuss the matter and urge them to take the necessary action as quickly as possible to resolve it.
