I KNOW that you will want to join me in praising the NHS and care staff for their incredible professionalism, love and care through what is proving to be a very challenging winter.

We have all read the headlines of long waits, ambulances queueing, overflowing Emergency Departments, and crowded wards choc-a-block with really sick people. York is no exception.

Having worked in acute medicine as a physio for over 20 years, I recall the very challenging winters in the late 1990s – the long hours, the complexity of needs, the volume of patients, but the stress stemmed from not having the time to go that extra mile, to spend just that little bit more time with a patient, or to know that more could have been done if only the team wasn’t so stretched.

I really do stand by the staff at this time.

But things did really change, and things did improve when the investment went into the NHS and staffing levels improved under Labour.

Labour re-captured the vision of Nye Bevan, Labour’s founding father of the NHS, 70 years ago this year.

We understood how vital the NHS was to all of us, and therefore did all we could to improve the health service for the public and the health of the public.

There are not enough beds, so we have to question why Archways closed, care homes are closing and why adjacent to York Teaching Hospital, Bootham Park Hospital lies dormant.

There are not enough staff, 100,000 vacancies nationwide, so why has the Government removed the training bursaries, why are EU nurses leaving because of Brexit, and how is the retirement of the baby boom generation being replaced?

And now there is cold weather and we have a really bad bout of flu, sickness and diarrhoea all at once to challenge the system.

If you have been ill this winter, I truly hope that you make a speedy recovery.

But it is the NHS that is sick too; it cannot cope.

There’s not enough money in the system.

The fragmentation is deeply damaging, not least between health and social care; and staff really do deserve a better deal.

We also seriously need to ask why public health is so poor and so severely cut.

To me this is key, and an issue I raised in Parliament this week as we debated the NHS crisis.

We need to ensure that everyone at risk across York gets their flu jab, homes are adequately heated, and someone is there to check in to check up that all is well this winter.

A pro-active health service would save lives and end the dangerous level of demand on the NHS.

You see, when we are sick, we need the NHS, but now the NHS is sick, it once again needs a Labour Government to fund, staff and build a National Health and Care Service fit for your future.

I’ll be visiting York Teaching Hospital, to thank them on behalf of you all, but from here, I will go back to Parliament and fight for its and your future health.