Last week, Julia Lopez the Member of Parliament for Hornchurch & Upminster, joined Havering’s local London Ambulance Service to get a better understanding of the challenges which face crews on the frontline.

Since being elected in 2017 Julia has worked closely with Havering’s emergency healthcare services to improve and raise standards.

As part of her work to better understand the challenges faced by local medical teams, Mrs Lopez headed out on last Friday’s 6.30am shift to see the work they do to serve residents.

During the shift, Julia joined paramedics, Kate and Chloe, attending calls to residents. Both were former carers and their experience shone through in providing expert care and support to residents.

Ahead of setting off, Mrs Lopez had the chance to present the team with the national NHS Award which they won for reducing hospital handover times to under 45 minutes, ensuring ambulance crews can quickly return to responding to emergency calls. 

Julia had jointly nominated both the LAS and BHRUT for the award in April of this year.

Commenting on the visit Mrs Lopez said:

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to the team for hosting me. This has been an incredibly useful session in helping me understand some of the day-to-day challenges and experiences which the teams go through whilst expertly caring for our community.”

Julia is currently working with Queen’s Hospital to unlock funding for the redevelopment of their A&E department which should further help improve urgent care in Havering. 

This has been made possible as some services will be moving to the new St. George’s NHS Hub, freeing up space at Queen’s.