THE Shadow Health Secretary warns the NHS today that there will be no additional funding without the “major surgery” of reform under Labour.
Wes Streeting asks for Sun readers’ backing for a massive overhaul of our troubled healthcare system.
AlamyWes Streeting warns the NHS that there’ll be no additional funding without ‘major surgery’ under Labour[/caption]
GettyWes Streeting and Sir Keir Starmer unveil plans to digitise massive amounts of NHS paperwork with an overhaul of the NHS app[/caption]
It would include bringing in the private sector to help cut waiting times.
Mr Streeting says an extra £1.1billon of funding will only come with agreement to get the NHS operating throughout the weekend to slash lists.
He also vows that “spare capacity in the private sector” will be used to help.
Pitching himself against healthcare unions and Labour supporters, he says “middle-class lefties cry ‘betrayal’”, but he is “up for the fight”.
And he warns the entire conversation about our creaking system must move from money to results. Writing below, he says: “The NHS is a service, not a shrine.
“It is judged by how well it serves the public, not how heavy a price we’re paying for failure.”
The fiery words come as he and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer unveil plans to digitise massive amounts of NHS paperwork with an overhaul of the NHS app — giving notifications of scans, GP availability and direct access to medical records.
And children’s health records will be available to their parents via the app to allow mums and dads to easily see if little ones are behind on jabs or check-ups.
It is hoped that the changes will turn around falling numbers in vaccines for measles.
WES Streeting will take readers’ questions this week on our politics show, Never Mind the Ballots. Submit them to [email protected] and tune in Wednesday, 7pm, at thesun.co.uk
‘ONLY WE CAN CURE THIS’
By Wes Streeting, Shadow Health Secretary
JUST one in every four people say they are satisfied with the NHS today.
Who can blame them? Record numbers of people are waiting for treatment, and they are waiting longer than ever before.
24 Hours In A&E isn’t just a TV programme, it’s reality for thousands. Patients are literally queuing around the block to see a dentist.
Rishi Sunak responds that he is putting in record amounts of funding.
But the NHS is a service, not a shrine. It is judged by how well it serves the public, not how heavy a price we’re paying for failure.
The problems with the NHS are clear. It’s a 20th century service that hasn’t changed with the times and isn’t fit for the modern era.
It catches illness too late, which means worse care for patients at greater cost to the taxpayer.
It costs the NHS about £40 to provide a GP appointment.
But if patients can’t get an appointment, they end up in A&E, which costs around £400. We’re paying more but getting less.
This can’t go on. If the NHS doesn’t change, it will die.
For the Conservatives, the NHS is covered in flashing signs warning, “Danger: Do Not Touch”. They know the public don’t trust them with it, so they daren’t change it. Only Labour can reform the NHS.
It won’t happen overnight. It will take a decade of change and modernisation to make the NHS fit for the future.
But if we marry Britain’s greatest scientific minds and tech entrepreneurs with the NHS, this country will go to the front of the queue for the revolution in medical treatments coming over the horizon.
That’s how the NHS rolled out the fastest vaccine in history. If we did it to defeat Covid, why not to cure cancer and dementia? Cutting waiting lists will be our top priority and Labour has a plan to do it.
Operating theatres lie empty on weekends while millions of patients wait. Labour will get the NHS working around the clock, with an extra two million appointments on evenings and weekends a year.
That’s the reform. It will come with investment of £1.1billion, to pay staff for the extra shifts.
With Labour, investment will always be linked to reform.
Pouring more money in without reform would be like pouring water into a leaky bucket.
We will also use spare capacity in the private sector to cut the waiting lists.
Middle-class lefties cry “betrayal”. The real betrayal is the two-tier system that sees people like them treated faster — while working families like mine are left waiting for longer.
Hours of doctors’ and nurses’ time is wasted by outdated equipment. Labour will bring our analogue service into the digital age.
As a first step, we will put artificial intelligence technology in every hospital, and make proper use of the NHS app to give patients real choice and control.
GPs are currently measured by 55 targets. Too much time is spent filling in forms and ticking boxes.
Labour will fix the front door of the NHS so more people get care in their own neighbourhood, starting by cutting the red tape that ties up GPs’ time to bring back the family doctor.
I don’t pretend reform will be easy. There will always be vested interests who resist change, but I’m up for the fight.
The NHS saved my life when I had kidney cancer and now I’m determined to save our NHS.
That is why I’m asking Sun readers to vote for change, and give Labour the mandate we need to fundamentally reform the NHS.
Sticking plasters won’t do — the NHS needs major surgery and only Labour can deliver.
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