WELLINGTON MP Gideon Amos has said the Lord Darzi report into the state of the NHS must be a “wake-up call” for the government.

The report describes the NHS as being in a ‘critical condition’ and that since 2015, the NHS has missed every target for A&E, cancer and hospital treatment waiting times.

Mr Amos, who is Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton and Wellington, said that the new government must urgently invest in Taunton and Wellington’s local health services with accessing care being the biggest challenge facing their constituents.

In the wake of the report, the Liberal Democrats have called on the government to make fixing the NHS and care its top priority and to recruit more GPs, fix crumbling hospitals and hold cross-party talks on tackling the crisis in social care.

Mr Amos said: “This report has laid bare the falling numbers of mental health nurses, GPs and dentists leaving in droves and cancer treatment, waiting times and almost every other target missed since 2015 when the Conservatives took over.

“It should be a wake-up call to fix our local NHS and care services.

“Here in Taunton, Somerset’s NHS Trust have been leading the way particularly in mental health - replacing treatment in hospital with increased prevention in the community but, as long as social care remains broken, our hospital simply cannot work properly.

“And, due to the last government’s broken promise of a new hospital for Taunton, mothers this summer gave birth in 30C with staff fainting from the heat - only relieved when buckets were brought out to catch leaks from the roof of the maternity building, erected temporarily for the US Army in the 1940s.

“I’m calling for a meeting with the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, to underline how urgent our new Maternity Department now is.”