MP Jim Dickson talks about areas of healthcare in need of investment

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Transcript

00:00There's two things really. In my own constituency of Dartford we have a

00:03district general hospital, the Darent Valley Hospital, which at the moment

00:07is struggling because of the increase in population in Dartford with lots of very

00:11welcome new homes being built but you've really got to have the

00:14infrastructure to support that and Darent Valley Hospital needs to be

00:18expanded in order to be able to take in the increased demand. We need more GP

00:23appointments and I'm working very hard with the government to make sure we

00:26recruit more GPs and that those primary care practices, the GP practices, are open

00:32for longer but I'm also personally very concerned with the need to get a fitter

00:38and healthier population to decrease the calls on the NHS. So I'm very keen on

00:44the government's steps they're about to take to decrease the amount of smoking

00:47that happens in the population, hopefully to ensure people eat healthier

00:51food by banning junk food advertising and I would like to see more action to

00:57actually make sure that the sort of things we call junk food have fewer

01:03sugar, salt, fat and those other elements that we know make people obese and

01:09increase the demand on the NHS. So let's see a healthier population so that the

01:13calls on the NHS are fewer and actually people live healthier lives and a

01:17healthier life is actually a more satisfying and enjoyable life so you get that as well

01:22as a result of trying to focus on prevention of ill health.