Residents across our area are worried about long waiting times to access NHS services.

Following Beveridge’s legacy, we demand our promised new hospital.

The current situation leaves St Helier in disrepair and Epsom overcrowded, a situation that must change.

The National Health Service (NHS), the brainchild of Liberal MP and social reformer William Beveridge, is at the heart of the Liberal Democrats’ agenda in Epsom & Ewell.

The local health authority, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, struggles to provide modern healthcare due to outdated facilities, particularly at St Helier hospital where the most critical patients are treated.

The Trust’s proposal for a new emergency care hospital in Sutton aims to centralise six core services, including emergency surgery and critical care, which would alleviate the burden on the existing hospitals. This new site would also house state-of-the-art maternity and paediatric care units, replacing the inadequate services at St Helier.

For Epsom, which will retain 85% of its current work, the plan promises upgraded facilities once the new hospital alleviates overcrowding. However, these plans have been repeatedly stalled by Conservative governments, despite promises of funding.

We aim to transform healthcare facilities, improving patient care and working conditions for medical staff. We propose reforms in GP access, NHS dentistry, and mental health services.

We are critical of the Conservative government's neglect of these areas and their lack of direction in improving social care. The Lib Dems pledge to protect older citizens from selling their homes to pay for social care, increase carers' allowance, and introduce free personal care.

We believe that with a reinvigorated and strong economy we can afford a new and more effective NHS – one that lives up to the promise of its chief architect, William Beveridge.