Andrew Dismore

Some of my political opponents have been rather snide, speculating  about my  ‘personal reasons’ as to why I didn’t  stand again in Hendon for this  General Election, so I wanted to put the record  straight.

The main reason was that I needed hospital ‘elective’ surgery. In the expectation that if an election was to come, it would be by early May at the latest so I kept my diary sufficiently    clearable  for that eventuality. In March, when the Prime Minister ruled out an early election, I took her at her word, and my operation was scheduled for mid May:

When Mrs May did her ‘U’ turn and called this  unnecessary election for 8^th June , realistically my operation could not be put off any longer. As the ‘procedure’ (as the doctors call it) would  keep  me in hospital for a few days and  would need me to rest up afterwards, it was clear to me I would not be able to lead from the front, as I believe any good candidate should do, for at least half  the General Election campaign, so I reluctantly decided not to stand.

I am immensely grateful to the highly competent Mike Katz for picking up the baton and stepping up to the plate, to mix sporting metaphors, as Labour’s candidate for Hendon. He  is well suited to the constituency, is doing a great job as our candidate and will make an excellent MP if he is elected, as I hope he will be.

An informative  consequence of my decision to stand down is  that I have now had first hand experience of what it is  like to have surgery in the NHS and to be a NHS hospital in-patient. I have learnt at least  three key lessons about our NHS as a result.

Firstly, the NHS has given me what I can only describe as a 5 star service, treatment and care, way exceeding my expectations. From the attentive staff, consultant and  registrar to the ward nurses, care assistants, cleaners and catering staff , they looked after me brilliantly. On the ward I could see and hear how rushed off their feet they were, especially in the mornings, but they never let it show directly to me, having time for a quick chat and displaying a friendly, encouraging and positive attitude. This was really appreciated given the pain and  discomfort I was in. The food was edible too- gone are the days of tinned diced carrots! My only concern was the broken blind on the window, so I was woken by the dawn – an order was in to fix it, but the cuts…..you can guess the rest.

So secondly, I also saw the overwhelming pressure the NHS is under due to the Conservatives’ funding squeeze- and not just for minor repairs. On my allotted day, I fasted from the night before, psyched myself up for what was inevitably not going to be a pleasant  experience, arrived on time, checked in  and  got gowned up, ready for the operation. I then waited several hours, only to be told later in the afternoon that there was no bed available due to the A and E Department’s bed demands. The hospital was completely full. The consultant was most apologetic, and I was put on what airlines would call ‘stand by’: ‘come tomorrow, and we will do our best to prioritise you and  fit you in’: which they managed  to do, I am pleased to say.

Thirdly and most importantly, I could see how international is our National Health Service. We are utterly dependent on overseas staff to keep it going. At my pre- surgery assessment, I was seen by nurse practitioners from Liberia, Hungary- and closer to home, Lancashire.

At my operation, the assistant anaesthetist  was a wonderful Polish woman. The ward staff  were from, amongst other places, Romania, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, the Philippines  – and Hull, City of Culture.

The Romanian nurse stopped by to  check up on me late one afternoon, and I learnt her story. She had come to the UK  a few years ago, speaking no English. She had learned the language fluently and was a brilliant nurse. Yet she was worried whether she would be allowed to stay because of  Brexit. She wanted to stay, of course, but said she would move to another country with her readily  transferable skills if she could not. We should not underestimate the impact and the consequences of  the personal disquiet  caused by  the uncertainty over their  future  felt by EU nationals in our workforce, NHS or  otherwise.

Without such  dedicated  and proficient people, the NHS would grind to a halt, yet this rotten Conservative Government  is  treating them like pawns and bargaining chips. No wonder EU migration has been dropping: but it is us who  will be the losers if wonderful  people like this decide to leave.

The lessons to my mind are absolutely clear. We need a Labour Government that will invest the money we need to sort out the funding  crisis in the NHS. We need a Labour Government that will  ensure our staff are properly  looked after, as they look after us. We need a Labour Government, committed to guaranteeing the right of our EU national  NHS staff to stay here, from day one. And we need a Labour Government  to ensure we train more of our own home grown doctors  and nurses, including restoring nurse training  bursaries, as we did before.

It goes without saying that it was Labour that created the NHS: and the NHS needs a  Labour Government  to save it and its dedicated workers, yet again.

Andrew Dismore AM

Labour London Assembly member for  Barnet and Camden

Labour MP for Hendon 1997 to 2010