Cutting waiting lists is ‘first step’ of Labour’s NHS plan
CUTTING NHS waiting lists will be “the first step” in a Labour government’s plan to get the health service “back on its feet”, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The opposition leader pledged to create a health service that is “there for everyone” ahead of a visit to the West Midlands.
If it wins the General Election, Labour will initially focus on reducing treatment backlogs, which currently stand at 7.54 million. The party claims the figure could rise to 10 million if the Conservatives are in office for another five years.
Labour’s first step would be to create an additional 40,000 appointments, scans and operations each week during evenings and weekends. It also vowed to double the numbers of scanners in a bid to diagnose patients earlier.
Sir Keir said: “Putting the NHS back in its feet and making fit for the future is personal for me. It runs through my family like a stick of rock, which is why one of my five missions is to turn it around after 14 years of Conservative decline. The first step of my Labour government will be to cut NHS waiting lists, clearing the Tory backlog.”
The plans for additional appointments and scanners will cost about £1.3 billion, according to Labour.
The party said it will fund them by clamping down on tax dodgers and tightening up the rules on non-domiciled people.
Elsewhere, Labour vowed to utilise spare capacity in the private sector, which will be free of charge to NHS patients, as well as reforming the health service and expanding the workforce.
Sir Keir added: “We will roll up our sleeves to work with NHS staff, not against them. We will stop the anxiety of wondering if an ambulance will come on time. We will bring back the family doctor.
“The NHS has been there for my family when we needed it. I’ll make sure it’s there for everyone.”
Kathryn Marszalek, senior analytical manager at the Health Foundation, warned tackling waiting lists through weekend and evening work “must not come at a cost to staff wellbeing”. She also called on the next government to “provide stable, long-term investment to meet the high demand for both hospital and primary care”.
Earlier this month, figures from NHS England revealed the size of the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England was unchanged in March, following five consecutive monthly falls.
An estimated 7.54 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of March, relating to 6.29 million patients, the same numbers as in February. However, 309,300 had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment, up from 305,050. The number of people waiting more than 65 weeks to start treatment fell from 75,004 to 48,968.
The Government had pledged to eliminate all waits of more than a year by March 2025, while the target to eliminate all waits of more than 65 weeks has been moved to September 2024, having previously been March 2024.
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins described the plans as “more ‘copy and paste’ politics from Labour, who have no plan”.