“I have one stipulation, they must positively and genuinely engage with me on the need to return a maternity and children’s service to the Alex,” Rachel has said ahead of a new Chief Executive at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
Since Rachel was first elected in 2017, there have been two Chief Executives of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, and there’s soon to be a third following the departure of Matthew Hopkins.
Although the future of the Alexandra Hospital has been secured in this time with more investment and more doctors and nurses, Rachel is still fighting to return a maternity and children’s service to the hospital.
This is despite publishing two reports into how she believes health bosses can return these services to the Alex.
It builds on Rachel’s record of delivery having secured the return of the Garden Suite, as well as the investment the hospital has seen from a brand-new Breast Imaging Unit to state-of-the-art robot-assisted surgery, the expansion of the endoscopy services and new, multi-million-pound operating theatres.
Rachel said:
“I will of course continue to work constructively with the new Chief Executive and their team, but I have one stipulation, they must positively and genuinely engage with me on the need to return a maternity and children’s service to the Alex.
“The ball is in their court. It is not me or the Government who decides what services are provided at the Alex, it’s local health bosses. That is how the system works, and it’s my job as your MP to challenge the decisions local health bosses make and to fight for the services you want.
“And I passionately believe local health bosses have the tools to return services with record Government investment in our NHS and with more doctors and nurses working for our Acute Trust than when I was first elected.
“I got the Garden Suite back to the Alex and I reaffirm my promise to my constituents that I won’t stop fighting until we have a maternity and children’s service back at our hospital.”
