David Lidington, MP for Aylesbury, writes exclusively to Bucks Free Press readers:

The New Year saw publication of the new Long Term Plan for the NHS.

It was drawn up by the professional leaders of the NHS and the government has committed all of us as taxpayers to provide the funding: £115 billion this financial year, rising every year to £148 billion in 2023/24.

To ensure that that money is well used, the NHS has to embrace reform including making more use of digital technology.

The NHS is facing unprecedented levels of demand. Every day, it treats more than one million people.

Last year, NHS staff carried out two million more operations and saw over 11 million more outpatients compared with 2010.

At the heart of the new plan is the principle that prevention is better than cure.

The NHS should do much more to support people to stay healthy, rather than just treat them when they are ill.

So the biggest increase in funding – at least £4.5 billion – will go to primary and community care, because GPs are the bedrock of the NHS.

Next, the principle is that organisations across the NHS, local councils, innovators, and the voluntary sector, will all work more closely together so that they can focus on what patients need.

The Plan focuses on the most common causes of mortality: cancer, heart disease, stroke and lung disease, with the NHS taking a more active role in helping people to stop smoking, lose weight and reducing alcohol intake.

Other priorities include: improving maternity services; better care for children and young people with learning difficulties or autism, and a £2.3 billion boost to mental health budgets.

Waiting time targets will for the first time be introduced to community mental health treatment.

It’s an ambitious programme, but one I believe most people will welcome warmly.