ONE of the things that we hold most dear in this Country is our National Health Service. It was one of the key topics during last year’s General Election.

And I am proud that this Government has committed to invest £10bn extra a year, as well as an extra £1.2bn for GP services and a £5.3bn Better Care Fund to help integrate health and social care locally.

One of the local campaigns that I have been involved with, alongside MP Robert Buckland and Dr Peter Crouch, the chairman of the Clinical Commissioning Group, has been focused on addressing the national funding formula which saw Swindon receiving less than its fair share of healthcare funding compared to other areas of similar size and demographics.

After a number of letters to the chief executive of NHS England and discussions with the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, the NHS has announced the decision to amend the formula.

The result is an increase in cumulative investment in the Swindon CCG healthcare economy of £45m over five years, with investment up from £82m to £127m.

This announcement comes as a big win for patients across Swindon.

There was a further announcement for Swindon last week as NHS England also confirmed that the proposed £2.9m Radiotherapy Unit at the Great Western Hospital had finally been given the green light. This facility is set to open in late 2017and will mean that patients from Swindon and the surrounding area will in future be able to receive vital treatment in their own town without having to travel over an hour to the nearest radiotherapy unit in Oxford.

Fighting cancer is a traumatic ordeal for both the patient and their families.

We got fully behind the campaign to secure this new treatment provision so that people in Swindon will no longer have to embark on regular long journeys while fighting cancer.

A big thank you to every single volunteer who got behind the Radiotherapy Centre Appeal campaign to help raise funds – without your commitment this decision would not have been made.

It was another busy week for me as I met with the Swindon Friends Of Auto Enrolment – a great support network helping local small businesses to enrol their employees into the Government-backed pension scheme; celebrated with the Swindon MS Society as they marked their 50th birthday party and joined Network Rail for a national forum to discuss supporting disability employment, carers and inclusive design for disabled passengers.

In Parliament, I joined the British Heart Foundation to discuss the 8,150 people in North Swindon living with cardiovascular disease.

visited the Leonard Cheshire Disability art exhibition and signed the Holocaust Education Trusts book of commitments. I also visited a fantastic start up micro-brewery fully staffed by staff with Learning Disabilities, so it was an apt time to raise a pint to celebrate the latest job stats as unemployment across our town has fallen again with 138 more people in work this month alone.