THE National Health Service is always of prime importance to my constituents.

Thanks to a stronger economy, the Government has kept to its manifesto promise of delivering the first £6 billion of up-front funding over this year and next year. Locally, over the last five years we have seen the opening of a new £17 million community hospital in Malvern, expansion at Tenbury hospital, the £22.5 million new oncology centre, the £2 million breast unit opens shortly and, for the last two years, the Government has allocated an extra £2.6 million to help deal with the extra pressures faced by Worcestershire Royal Hospital in the winter.

I hope that the recent junior doctors' strike did not cause readers too much inconvenience and I hope there won't be any more. The BMA’s decision to press on with industrial action was disappointing. I would like to thank everyone who has worked in the NHS during the strike to keep patients safe. Everyone wants to ensure that patients who use the NHS have the best possible care seven days a week.

Our contract proposals prioritise patient safety and offer junior doctors safer working hours, with an 11 per cent increase in basic pay, the majority seeing a pay rise and nobody working legal hours seeing their pay cut.

Our changes to the contracts will ensure the NHS delivers high-quality care every day of the week for patients.

Last month, I, and my south Worcestershire colleagues, met with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to discuss the future of the local NHS Acute Trust and we agreed that NHS Improvement will lead swift efforts to find and deliver the best possible solution for the whole of Worcestershire.

I aim to speak for the vast majority of local people who want to see the best possible medical services across the whole of the county. I have urged the Secretary of State to help us make more of our valuable community hospitals – especially our great one in Tenbury delivering care closer to our homes. It is also important that we recognise and support the wonderful work of the Tenbury Hospital League of Friends.

Most of all, I want to speak up for the hard-working staff who do such amazing jobs in the health service and to tell them that my daily postbag has far more praise than criticism. They really are our heroes.