The Labour Party manifesto promises to build an NHS fit for the future, and to cut waiting times with 40,000 more appointments every week.
Party leader Keir Starmer launched the manifesto, in a week that has already seen the launches of the Liberal Democrats, Conservative and Green Party manifestos.
On outlining five national missions, Starmer said the manifesto points to a new Britain “where our NHS is once again at the cutting edge of healthcare.”
The other four missions included economic growth, clean energy, halving crime and reforming childcare and education.
The manifesto states: “Patients should expect to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral for consultant-led treatment of non-urgent health conditions.
“This standard was achieved with the last Labour government and will be again under the next.
“As a first step, in England we will deliver an extra two million NHS operations, scans, and appointments every year; that is 40,000 more appointments every week.
“We will do this by incentivising staff to carry out additional appointments out of hours. Labour will pool resources across neighbouring hospitals to introduce shared waiting lists to allow patients to be treated quicker.
“Recognising the urgent need to bring down waiting lists, Labour will use spare capacity in the independent sector to ensure patients are diagnosed and treated more quickly.”
On how Labour will build an NHS fit for the future, the manifesto states it will:
- Cut NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments every week
- Double the number of cancer scanners
- A new Dentistry Rescue Plan
- 8,500 additional mental health staff
- Return of the family doctor
NHS app
The manifesto states that Labour will transform the NHS app, putting patients in control of their own health to better manage their medicine, appointments, and health needs.
“This will include giving performance information on local services, and notifications of vaccinations and health checks.
“Patients will be able to see the medical guidelines for the treatment they should get, to hold health services to account and understand what their choices are.”
More GPs
The Labour manifesto promises to “train thousands more GPs, guarantee a face-to-face appointment for all those who want one and deliver a modern appointment booking system to end the 8am scramble.
“We will bring back the family doctor by incentivising GPs to see the same patient, so ongoing or complex conditions are dealt with effectively.”
Dentistry rescue plan
On the matter of dentists, the manifesto says: “Getting an NHS dentist is increasingly a lottery and the consequences are dire.
“The most common reason children aged five to nine are admitted to hospital is to have rotting teeth removed.
“Labour will tackle the immediate crisis with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most.
“To rebuild dentistry for the long term, Labour will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focusing on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
“We will also introduce a supervised tooth-brushing scheme for 3- to 5-year-olds, targeting the areas of highest need.”
Analysis
Responding to the Labour manifesto, Dr Jennifer Dixon, CEO of the Health Foundation, said: “The Labour Party has set out a bold vision for addressing some of the most pressing issues facing the UK’s health and the future of public services but lacks detail on how its goals will be delivered and paid for.
“Labour’s plans to drive down NHS waiting times are ambitious, but achieving this will be an extremely tall order, particularly given that they appear to rely on asking already exhausted staff to work overtime.
“Other measures to improve early diagnosis and treatment, expand access to general practice and deliver more NHS care in communities are welcome, but the elephant in the room is how these improvements will be funded.
“Delivering these improvements will require significantly more investment than has been set out so far.
‘’We welcome Labour’s promise of a clearer national approach to delivering high-quality social care and vital action to improve staff pay and conditions. But there is no timetable for reform – and no recognition that these measures need to be fully funded.
“The manifesto also dodges crucial questions about long overdue funding reform to protect people against the costs of care.
“There is little here to inspire confidence that a Labour government would bring an end to the political neglect of social care by successive governments.
“Labour has recognised that the health and care system was not set up to go it alone by emphasising the importance of prevention. Banning smoking and restricting children’s access to harmful products, such as energy drinks, vapes, and unhealthy food are steps in the right direction.
“The pledge to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between England’s richest and poorest regions is also very welcome.
“However, making this a reality will require cross-government action on the building blocks of health and investment in public health services.
“Labour has put growth and prosperity front and centre in its manifesto, but any thriving economy needs to be built on the foundations of a healthy population.
“Whilst the manifesto includes a commitment to work with local areas to support more people with ill health to get back into the workplace, more detail is needed on how the scale of this challenge will be tackled.”
David Hare, CEO of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), said: “With the latest NHS performance figures showing waiting lists are continuing to rise, it’s welcome to see there is now a clear cross-party commitment to making greater use of the independent sector to cut the NHS backlog.
“YouGov polling this week found that using independent sector capacity to tackle NHS waiting lists was one of the most popular policies put forward by any party in the run up to the election.
“This is unsurprising given that in the last year alone activity by the sector removed more than 1.5 million people from the NHS waiting list, with almost one in five NHS operations now delivered by independent providers.
“Given the scale of the challenge, the task for the next government will be to turn these welcome words into action, including through fully ensuring patients are aware of their “right to choose” where they receive their NHS treatment which will make a real contribution to cutting the waiting list and help ensure patients can get the care they need.”