We’re all used to the drip-drip of stories about the pressures on our NHS.

Crumbling hospitals, the 8am scramble for a GP appointment, long waiting lists for mental health assessments.

But this week, the full scale of the challenges were laid bare in a report, commissioned by the new government. 

Much of what was in the report has been known for some years. But it is nonetheless a scathing summary of the complete devastation that the Conservatives have wrought on our health services and on the health of our communities. 

We Liberal Democrats have long argued that we need to shift healthcare from hospitals to the community, and from treatment to prevention.

Doing so improves health outcomes and saves taxpayers’ money. It is a win-win.

But the government’s report is long on diagnosis and short on prescription.

In a debate in Parliament, I challenged Ministers to read the Lib Dems fully costed manifesto.

In it, we have ideas to fix public health and primary care by recruiting 8,000 GPs, ending dental deserts, boosting public health grants by £1 billion a year, a five-year plan to boost cancer survival rates, and putting a mental health expert in every school - just to name a few. 

I also challenged Ministers to address the elephant in the room: social care.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that we cannot fix the NHS if we do not fix social care too.

It’s really frustrating that so far the Labour government has said almost nothing about social care - either in its manifesto, in the Kings Speech, or in Parliament.  

A good place to start would be with free personal care. This bold idea would prevent many people from going into hospital in the first place, and enable them to be discharged from hospital faster too.

This Government say that they want growth. Well, health and wealth are two sides of the same coin, which is something the Conservatives did not ever understand.

If Labour wants economic growth, fixing our health and social care must be its top priority.