I AM pleased to announce this week that one of the key parts of my agenda for this Parliament, in healthcare, is moving forward.

Getting better access to personalised care and making our overall health and care services more efficient depends on primary GP care being constructively involved, and last week the government announced that it will spend £2.5billion a year more on GP services by the end of this Parliament.

It is about much more than just money, however.

Structural changes and reforms to the way GPs are trained, recruited and supported are being proposed, with the ambitious target of doubling the rate of addition of new GPs to the system over the next five years, and a radical approach to trying to make the GP system more attractive for GPs to want to stay on.

Our local Clinical Commissioning Group for Somerset, based in Yeovil, and its local delivery partners in the Somerset Partnership Trust, Yeovil Hospital, Musgrove Park, the local GP Federation and the County Council have been working incredibly hard to deliver joined up patient focused services.

I am incredibly grateful to our local healthcare staff, who provide high quality and improving care locally.

I have really enjoyed my intensive series of open surgeries over the past few weeks and having the opportunity to meet and help constituents, in these and my regular weekly by-appointment surgeries.

Westminster might be the place for me to lobby for things I have been working on for our area that are now starting to come together - better healthcare including mental health, more funding and opportunities in education, A303/A358 dualling, strategies for inward investment, business rate reform and support for local industry, and lower taxes - but nothing beats the buzz I get from talking to people here face to face.