I have become very concerned at the number of constituents that have contacted me about the closure of our local A&E departments, notably at Queen’s Medical Centre, due to changes within the NHS.

I have no doubt that these claims have come from web-generated e-mail campaigns that tend to deal in generalities to promote scaremongering. The NHS is perhaps the most treasured institution in the country, and this Government has committed record spending to ensure that services continue to improve.

Despite tight public finances, the Government has actively supported the NHS' own plan for the future. When NHS England’s ‘Five Year Forward View’ showed that they would require an additional £8 billion per year to meet their future needs, the Government pledged to support them with £10 billion every year until 2020/21. This will allow the NHS to offer 800,000 more operations and treatments, spend up to £2 billion more on new drugs, and allow everyone to access GP services at evenings and weekends.

Though the NHS is under pressure, the Sustainability & Transformation Plans being introduced will ensure that we can continue to focus on key priorities such as access to GPs, cancer care and mental health treatment. Much of this will be done through making existing services more efficient and ensuring that we use facilities such as pharmacies to their full potential in providing primary care. As you will be able to see from my contributions in Parliament, I have taken every opportunity to seek assurances from the Government that this remains the case, and have been glad to hear that they remain committed to bringing in these changes.

These will be decided collaboratively by health commissioners, service providers and local authorities to realise the NHS’ vision for the future. Even though many campaign groups suggest these were introduced secretly, STPs were publicly announced by NHS England in December 2015 to ensure that increased resources for the NHS lead directly to better care for patients. These will not only be scrutinised by NHS England, but are also due to be opened up to a formal public consultation in the near future.

I would like to reassure my constituents that no changes to the services people currently receive will be made without a full public consultation taking place first, and I would urge anyone to take part in them when these are opened. I know from conversations with my Parliamentary colleagues that the Government is committed to ensuring full transparency and accountability about how the plans are being implemented.

A recent Care Quality Commission report from the independent health and social care inspectorate shows that 72% of adult social care services and 87% of GP practices inspected are good or outstanding, an improvement taking place all over the country. I am particularly delighted that our own Nottingham West CCG has recently become the best in the country for GP services, with half of our practices ranked as good and a further third ranked outstanding!

With three family members that work in the NHS, I can guarantee that I will continue to support the service as best I can.