The Parliamentary schedule has long been the cause of debate. Why, some ask, do MPs only spend half of the year in Parliament? The answer, in my case at least, is that we spend the other half helping our constituents in the constituency. I take the view that the people I serve, and the issues they have, drives what I say in Parliament. On the basis that I speak so much in the House of Commons, I need plenty of material to keep me going.

Unfortunately, we have plenty of local issues which need sorting out right now. One of the most pressing for me is to ensure that we have a local NHS which is able to deliver what we need. This is particularly important in our area because we have an ageing population who need to be cared for. The Government has estimated that the NHS will need an extra £30 billion pounds by 2020 to keep up with the advances in science and the number of people who need to use it. The Government has put in an extra £10 billion but the remainder has to be recycled by efficiencies in the NHS. This is a tall order. In East Sussex, our health leaders are seeking to find savings by putting the health and social care system under one umbrella. This 'Better Together' initiative is designed to ensure that patients are not staying in hospital longer than they should be because there is no care package waiting for them. Keeping people in hospital is an expensive business and blocks beds. I am keen to support our local health leaders as they make these much-needed reforms.

It is of course important to ensure that changes in healthcare do not deliver a worse service at a higher cost. Reform of our non-emergency patient transport is a recent example of this. The service used to be performed by our local ambulance trust but they handed the contract back and our NHS commissioners awarded the contract to a private provider who themselves contract the work to a number of driver companies. The service immediately deteriorated and vulnerable patients were missing appointments and care, causing backlogs in our hospitals. I led a cross-party group of MPs from Sussex and we met with the commissioners and the private contractor to agree performance measures. The performance has improved but the treatment of the drivers, who have put their patients before their own financial concerns, has been appalling. Having been moved from the ambulance service to private driver companies, they have found their new employers going in to administration due to cash flow issues and have not been paid or have lost their terms of service. I am now in daily dialogue with the commissioners, unions and drivers to support the restructuring and centralisation of the contract and for the NHS to honour the terms and conditions of drivers. It is important that we learn the lessons of this nationally so I have been in touch with the Department of Health who have assured me that they will.

In my job it is important to level with constituents. In between elections, voters tend to want more money spent on our local services. At election time, the party which pledges to keep taxes low tends to win power. Spending money wisely is crucial but we are also going to need to make difficult choices in the years to come: spend more of it or ration what we can afford to deliver?