After writing this column, I will be heading to Derriford hospital for an operation. It is the culmination of a series of scans and consultations. Hopefully, this surgery will resolve the constant headaches I have been experiencing for the past few months.

During that time, a relative in his 80s was treated for a stroke and two friends in their 70s have each had successful operations. In all these cases, we experienced a first-class service and have nothing but praise for the dedicated and caring NHS staff.

There is much to celebrate about our Health Service and its achievements. Not only does it deliver world-class health care (with a multinational workforce), but it does so without charging patients for the operations they need. So, whilst I have been worried about my symptoms, I did not need to worry about paying a huge medical bill: I had the service I needed without question.

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK has publicly stated that he wants to end this system, changing to an “insurance” model. He has spent enough time in the United States to know that this would see millions of families crippled by medical bills, whilst private shareholders make obscene profits.

But change is needed: The NHS is under threat because Conservative and Labour politicians alike have failed to address the funding crisis in our social care system. Whilst money has poured into the NHS, councils have been starved of the funds they need to pay decent wages to care workers. With over 1,000 unfilled care worker vacancies in Cornwall, one in every seven hospital beds is occupied by a patient who should be at home or in residential care!

While I waited for my CT scan, I noticed the long queue of ambulances waiting to off-load their patients. Not only is this bad for patient care, but it is also an inefficient use of ambulances and highly trained paramedics. This is a national problem, but is worse in Cornwall than elsewhere: Derriford and Royal Cornwall hospitals have some of the longest ambulance handover delays in England.

Health Ministers from both parties have talked about “integration” of the NHS and social care. They have spent years restructuring the layers of managers and bureaucrats, but the fundamental problem of social care funding still hasn’t been fixed. Now Labour have launched a “review” which will not reach its final conclusions for another three years!

The Liberal Democrats believe this is too long to wait to come to the conclusion that social care should be free at the point of use, funded by general taxation, just like the NHS. The money saved by not having delayed ambulances, blocked beds and cancelled operations would more than cover the extra money required to pay decent wages to care workers.

Adam Sturtridge, Cornwall Council candidate for Liberal Democrats in Lynher