AN ALL-party bid to tackle the crisis in NHS and social care has had mixed support from Dorset’s MPs.

Aside from MP for Bournemouth West Conor Burns and Oliver Letwin, not one of the county’s representatives put their name to the letter, signed by 100 MPs calling for an urgent inquiry.

However, patient advocacy group, HealthWatch Dorset welcomed the call for more investment.

The move, organised by Devon MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, is an attempt to break the “political deadlock” that has blocked repeated attempts to decide how to organise and fund services to cope with Britain’s ageing population.

“We need to break down the political barriers and to agree a way forward,” she said.

Conor Burns said he’d signed the letter because he felt it was time to do something about a system which ‘politicises, in a partisan way, health and social care’. “We really should take this out of party politics,” he said.

However, Christchurch MP Sir Chris Chope disagreed, saying things were far more complicated than the letter implied.

“I haven’t put my name to the letter and the reason for that is because I think it’s far too simplistic, the whole thing is more complicated than it suggests,” he said.

One of the complex reasons, he explained was that: “The NHS has enormous variations in its efficiency with different parts of the organisation in different areas working at different levels.”

He believes the NHS in this area is efficient but did not believe a commission would resolve the ‘deep-seated issues’ facing the service. “My view is that there are some really serious changes that need to take place within the NHS and that just looking at money on a short-term basis won’t really be of any use,” he said.

Joyce Guest, Healthwatch Dorset Chair disagreed. “Patients and staff are telling us that local health and care services are struggling to cope with demand,” she said. “So we welcome this call for more investment in a patient centred health and care system. It’s time the people in charge invest in its future.”