When the National Health Service was first established in the wake of the Second World War, it was with a noble ambition: to ensure that everyone - regardless of their background - could access quality healthcare, free at the point of use.

It was inspired by the great Liberal, William Beveridge. He was opposed to "means-tested" benefits and proposed a universal contribution in exchange for universal benefits.

This principle is something that stood the test of time for decades, despite life expectancy having been an average of 63 years old in Beveridge’s day.  In 2024, many of us will be familiar with inaccessible NHS dentistry, challenges getting a timely GP appointment, and we all know someone who has been left waiting hours for an ambulance to arrive, or waiting for hours in A&E.

Just recently, research by the Liberal Democrats found that the number of people on NHS waiting lists here in Devon reached record highs in 2023. In spite of the brilliant work of people who work in the health service, 158,000 patients were left in limbo, while 410,000 patients across the west country waited more than four hours in A&E last year. This simply isn’t good enough.

This is partly because of a massive positive: we are living longer. This is the case in rural and coastal communities like ours, where many people are fortunate enough to settle or have the good sense to retire. That’s why we need to think at this point about social care.

When people cannot get the social care they need, they often end up stuck in an “acute” hospital like the RD&E – unable to be discharged, while ambulances queue around the block. This is certainly not the fault of any one person; this is a systemic failure which starts at the top. The buck stops with the Government.

For years, Conservative Ministers have failed to properly address the social care crisis, and have instead favoured short-term, sticking-plaster measures to help us limp on. The Liberal Democrats would increase the minimum wage for social care workers by £2 per hour. This would help make this caring vocation a little more competitive and would help to fill the more than 150,000 vacancies that existed in social care last year.

We need to save our rural and coastal health services before it’s too late. We’ve already seen threats to facilities like Seaton Community Hospital. Sadly, many Conservative MPs are more focused on arguing over who should preside over their looming election defeat, rather than focusing on how the health service can be improved.

We need serious long-term reform and investment all year round. This will allow us to get people out of hospital and back into their communities with the quality care they deserve.