Isn’t “weaponise” a terrible word? How do you feel about politicians who would like to “weaponise” our precious NHS?

For that is what Mr Milliband, desperate to shore up his political position, wants to do; turn the health service into a political football, ignore the facts, spout cheap rhetoric and get on with what his party has always done; run the economy down so that services like the NHS become unaffordable.

The NHS is not a political weapon. It is one of our most precious national assets. But, services are under pressure all the time as we get older and demand more medical intervention, and under particular pressure this winter as it deals with unprecedented numbers of people going to A&E. We have to deal with this reality and treat improvements in the NHS as a national priority, not a weapon to be wielded by weak politicians.

So here are some facts:

* Over this parliament, we have increased the NHS budget by almost £13 billion.

* This winter there is a record amount of money in the system to deal with pressures.

* We have 17,000 more clinical staff since 2010, including 8,000 more doctors, 6,000 more hospital nurses, 1,200 more A&E doctors and 400 more A&E consultants.

* 3,000 more people are treated within within the four-hour target every single day than at any point under the last Government.

And Labour’s cynicism is especially clear when you consider that their 2004 GP contract destroyed family doctoring and left patients unable to get appointments out of hours. They failed to integrate health and care services, and performance in Wales, where Labour run the NHS, is worse than here.

Locally, since the election, there are real improvements. We have seen real progress in putting back services into Savernake Hospital, introducing care co-ordinators in GP surgeries to support patients with long-term conditions and cutting dementia assessment waiting times. There is more to do and last week I met Bedwyn GP Tim Ballard, who is vice chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, to discuss what else is needed locally and across the country, and to discuss the need in Devizes for more primary care services. There is always more to do, but the way to do it is not come up with cheap slogans but to run the economy well, fund a proper service and deal with the demands of our precious NHS.