June 2025 Newsletter
This is the 1st edition of my monthly newsletter, where you can keep up to date with what I am doing for our part of Wiltshire. In this edition you can read about my work in Westminster.
There are so many things to cover for my first newsletter, but so you know what to expect in this edition, some of the top things I will be covering include;
- An update on my health
- Action on our local NHS services
- Bringing Businesses Together
- Westminster: Under the bonnet
This will be a slightly longer read as my first newsletter, so please, grab a cup of tea, and please do get in touch on sarah.gibson.mp@parliament.uk if there is anything from this edition you would like to raise with me.
An update on my health
As many of you will know, over Christmas I suffered a serious health condition, pericarditis.
Following a call to the emergency services, I was rushed to the Royal United Hospital's Intensive Care Unit and required an extended period of time in the cardiology ward.
However, my recovery proved slower than I anticipated. Following a series of tests, my doctors discovered I have developed an auto-immune condition. The nature of this condition means I require a short period of monitored treatment at the hospital.
I have begun that treatment as of writing this newsletter. Under my doctor's orders, I am required to self-isolate to not damage my immune system any further. This means that, where possible, I will be attending meetings with constituents, organisations and businesses virtually.
My office remains fully operational, as I continue my treatment.
Ambulance Wait Times
Ambulance wait times across Wiltshire remain unacceptably long and continue to place lives at risk.
Whilst I was fortunate with my own need for an ambulance, constituents have contacted me with their own heartbreaking stories on ambulance wait times.
Over the recent weeks and months, I have met with frontline ambulance crews, doctors, nurses and local health bosses - all of whom tell me the complex web of problems that lead to an ambulance not being able to get where it is needed most.
From handover delays to patient discharge times at hospitals, the problems facing our ambulance service are complex.
At Great Western Hospital, I was told that a queue of 15 ambulances means there are 15 of the right kind of beds unavailable in the hospital. If everyone who was ready to be discharged on any given day, could leave the hospital half a day earlier - with a loved one collecting them, or making their own way home if safe to do so - there would not be ambulance delays.
To increase awareness of this, I have been raising this issue in the House of Commons, writing directly to Government Ministers, and continue to hold meetings with senior NHS bosses in our area.
The situation is critical and requires urgent intervention—not more excuses. I am continuing to apply pressure until response times are brought to safe and acceptable levels and patients receive the care they deserve, when they need it.
Chippenham's Dental Desert
The closure of Hathaway Dental Practice was a hammer blow to an already overstretched dental service in our part of Wiltshire.
At the moment the NHS dental contract - the way dentists get paid to provide dental services - sees dentists lose money when they provide certain NHS dental care. This is ridiculous.
Frustratingly, the Government has been promising reform of this system since July 2024, however, as of writing this newsletter, the Government has done nothing to improve the NHS dental contract.
In November, I led a debate in Parliament calling for the Government to get a move on and now, after eight months of follow-up questions and letters to ministers, the Government has still not budged.
Working with the British Dental Association to get the facts, I discovered that only 34% of adults in Wiltshire have seen an NHS dentist in the last two years. These figures paint a stark picture of dental services in our area, and I am continuing to push for much-needed reform.
Now, I am leading a cross-party Parliamentary motion, again, calling on the Government to fix the NHS dentist contract and bring more dentists back into NHS dentistry.
You can read my motion here:
Calne Health Centre
Residents in Calne have made their frustrations clear regarding access to GP appointments.
I recently chaired a meeting that brought together local Calne GPs and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) to examine the challenges standing in the way of a future Calne Health Centre. The GPs were all in agreement about the priorities for health care for Calne, so I will continue to push local health bosses until meaningful progress is made.
Bringing businesses together
I have held several "Business Breakfasts" bringing together a wide range of businesses based here in our constituency.
This has given me a fantastic opportunity to hear from the coalface, business owners' concerns, share ideas, and help shape the work I take to Parliament.
The insight and energy I have encountered at these events has been nothing short of inspiring, and the conversations I have had help me better represent the local business community here in our part of Wiltshire.
If you are a business owner and would like to take part in an upcoming session, you can sign up here.
Westminster: Under the Bonnet
Those who know me well would describe me as a bit of a car “fanatic”.
Whilst I personally would not use such dramatic terms, I must admit tinkering away on old cars on Sunday afternoons is one of the great joys in my life.
Finding out how things work, getting under the bonnet, and seeing what makes them tick has always interested me.
Some of you may have seen me at the recent Calne Rotary Classic Car Run. I had intended to take my favourite car, a McEvoy Morris Minor (pictured below). I had refurbished the brakes the day before but, not happy with my own work, I had to take my husband's Austin 7.
It was whilst I had the bonnet open, trying to figure out why my favourite little McEvoy had given up on me, it occurred to me you may want to know more about how Parliament works, what makes it tick and what I actually do there.
Below are a number of articles on what I do as your MP in Parliament. Please take a look!
And finally…
As you can probably gather from this email, fixing our local health services is my top priority as your MP. Not just because the NHS saved my life, but because so many people here rely on affordable, accessible healthcare.
Without a strong health and social care system, we cannot live, work, or play. That is why I have launched an NHS Survey. Volunteers across the constituency will be delivering these through doors in the coming months, but you can fill it in online.
Simply click the button below to let me know your views on our local health service. I can only represent you, if I know what you think.
Thank you!
If you have made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read my first newsletter as your Member of Parliament.
As always, please do get in touch with me if there is anything you wish to raise with me;
📨 sarah.gibson.mp@parliament.uk
📞 01249 736 074
Best Wishes,
Sarah Gibson MP
Your Liberal Democrat MP for Chippenham, Calne, Corsham, Lyneham and Royal Wootton Bassett
