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The question people will be asking when they go to the polls this week is: who is going to deliver for me?
Who is going to help me get my cost of living down, and make sure I can get a doctor’s appointment when I need it?
Who is going to bring forward the investment we need to get potholes fixed and schools improved?
When there’s so much cynicism around politics, I’m proud that our Labour Government has already begun the hard work of delivering change across Derbyshire through our Plan for Change.
Just this week, we’ve cancelled a planned rise in prescription charges line with inflation, keeping your prescriptions at below £10. Those who are already exempt from charges will also remain so.
When every pound matters for households, we’re doing everything we can to put it back in your pocket.
We’re driving delivery through our NHS too. From already delivering three million new appointments, to bringing waiting lists down even in the middle of winter.
We’re also sending crack teams into areas with the highest joblessness to get people treated at evenings and weekends so they can get back to work, and embracing new tech to make care faster and better.
We’re tackling waste by doing things differently: our push to rollout the NHS App has meant we’ve prevented a staggering 1.5 million appointments being missed by letting patients easily make changes if they need to, freeing up slots for those who need them.
Not only that, we’ve saved 1.7 million staff hours – time that doctors and nurses can now spend caring for patients instead of drowning in paperwork.
That's the equivalent of over £200 million in wasted time now being put to proper use.
It’s going to be a long road to fix our NHS, but the changes Labour is bringing in put patients first while stopping time and money being wasted.
The Tories and Reform would kill off this progress.
Over 14 years in government, the Conservatives completely mismanaged the NHS – leaving it on life support.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s Reform want to dismantle the health service as we know it – leaving patients paying thousands for routine treatment.
Reform’s catastrophic plan could mean coughing up £3,243 for cataracts treatment, or even £12,500 for a hip replacement alone.
That’s why in Derbyshire, only a Labour County Council working hand in hand with a Labour Government can deliver the change that people voted for last year. We’re protecting our vital NHS and making it fit for the future.
There’s still much more to be done by our Labour Government - but patients can’t afford the risk of letting the Tories or Reform in across the region.
Derbyshire’s health – and the future of our NHS - is in safer hands with Labour.