Mid Bedfordshire by-election: How will candidates address NHS pressures?

How will the candidates standing in Mid Beds tackle the pressures on the NHS?

In the second of four by-election previews, we asked voters to put their concerns directly to the parties standing in Mid Bedfordshire. How will they tackle the pressures on the NHS, especially GPs and health and social care?

A total of 13 candidates will stand to replace Conservative MP Nadine Dorries in the seat, with voting taking place on Thursday, 19 October.

Read about all them here.

'What is being done to alleviate the pressure on GP surgeries?'

Toby Bird lives in Clifton but works in Shefford and is worried about the state of the NHS

Voter Toby Bird, 48, from Clifton, says his local doctors' surgery is "inundated". He is unable to get an appointment, even if he calls at 08:00.

He asks: "What is being done to alleviate the pressure on GP surgeries? They're just overrun - it's not their fault."

Candidates left-right, from top left: Emma Holland-Lindsay; Festus Akinbusoye, Alistair Strathern; Cade Sibley, Sid Cordle; Dave Holland; Gareth Mackey; Alberto Thomas; Ann Kelly; Alan Victor; Prince Ankit Love, Emperor of India; Antonio Vitiello; Chris Rooney

Alistair Strathern (Labour): "I'll work proactively with local councils and the NHS to ensure we're doing everything we can locally and I'll stand up against housing developments that don't have much-needed infrastructure like GP surgeries. I'll also back Labour's fully-funded plan for thousands more doctors and nurses."

Emma Holland-Lindsay (Liberal Democrat): "Sadly the government is refusing to stump up the cash to expand our local GP practices, some of which are left to run out of temporary huts. For now the blame lies squarely with the Conservative government but local authorities need to step up, too."

Festus Akinbusoye (Conservative): "I will fight for the GP surgeries our area needs and am already campaigning to ensure future developments in Mid Bedfordshire have the appropriate infrastructure to support them."

Gareth Mackey (Independent): "We must look at ways of investing in the future. If we want to save the NHS there needs to be a core change in government policy to make it an attractive and viable career choice."

Dave Holland (Reform UK): "Councils are happy to take the financial boost that house-building brings in council tax, but our services never keep pace with the population increase. It is a joint failure from government and the local council to provide a basic level of essential services for residents."

Cade Sibley (Green): "The answer is making the job attractive and getting more support for staff like nurses and psychologists into GP surgeries."

Alberto Thomas (Heritage Party): "You should be able to make an appointment for later in the week. The practice manager should be able to offer advice."

Sid Cordle (Christian Peoples Alliance): "Our policy is to reintroduce GP fundholding which worked so well in the 1990s. It does involve an extra layer of bureaucracy, but it means hospitals have to quote for every operation and GPs can allocate their patients to the hospital that quotes the best price, or even do minor operations themselves."

Alan Victor (True and Fair Party): "There must be a clear plan to train more doctors, incentivise retention and make it easier for doctors to choose the UK until we have a pipeline of homegrown GPs."

Antonio Vitiello (English Democrats): "If we had an English parliament we could pass laws to regulate doctors' surgeries. We could require they operate some degree of 'sit and wait' clinics."

Prince Ankit Love, Emperor of India (Independent): "We need to have more choice for both the patient and the doctors and support more medium-priced private practices to ease the pressure on free services of NHS for those that can afford to pay reasonable prices."

Ann Kelly (Monster Raving Loony Party): "The NHS is in bits. Let's go back to the old ways and stop all the building!"

Chris Rooney (Mainstream): "The government needs to get its house in order, accept they've been using very out-of-date population estimates and increase their funding for GPs and clinics by a large amount."

'How will you support our community services and mental health services?'

Julia Oliveria wants to see more support offered for people with mental health problems

Julia Oliveria, 36, from Shefford, worked for a local NHS trust and is worried about health and social care.

She asks: "What will you do about investment and extra funding to support our community services and mental health services, to take the burden off the local acute trust?"

Festus Akinbusoye (Conservative): "I will fight for additional funding for mental services to ease pressure on our local trust and give hard-working staff the resources they need to do the best possible job."

Alistair Strathern (Labour): "If elected, I will immediately seek a meeting with the local integrated care board to see what the barriers are to cutting waiting lists. I would also back Labour's plan to recruit 8,500 additional mental health staff to drive down waiting lists, ensure access to a mental health professional in every school and put a mental health hub in every community, paid for by closing tax loopholes."

Emma Holland-Lindsay (Lib Dem): "I want to see a joined-up approach between the NHS and social care, meaning elderly and vulnerable people can get the support they need, and more investment in mental health care."

Dave Holland (Reform UK): "Allocation of NHS funding needs to be reviewed as a priority. We urgently need to prioritise where funding goes so it actually reaches patients who are in urgent need of care."

Cade Sibley (Green Party): "I want to see the NHS get the money it needs including inflation matching pay deals for staff so we can retain skilled people."

Gareth Mackey (Independent): "The next MP must make it one of their priorities to to push for a better settlement, to allow primary care and Local Government to expand services to take the pressure off both the police and acute treatment centres."

Alan Victor (True and Fair Party): "My priority would be to lobby for increased funding for community health services. One of our key proposals is to establish health and wellbeing hubs on high streets and in the heart of communities."

Alberto Thomas (Heritage Party): "I would need to ask the government minister for health for answers on this issue."

Antonio Vitiello (English Democrats): "Everyone in Scotland and Wales gets free NHS prescriptions. To achieve the same equality for England we need to scrap the Barnet Formula [that allocates spending to the other nations of the UK] and create a dedicated English parliament."

Prince Ankit Love, Emperor of India (Independent): "Money spent on the war should be invested differently. We also need to breathe some positivity into the future generation and avoid even greater irreversible mental health complications in our children."

Ann Kelly (Monster Raving Loony Party): "We won't solve problems by throwing money at the NHS except the mental health departments. The wastage must stop along with old-fashioned practices."