The Liberal Democrats have placed a £9bn rescue package for the NHS and social care at the heart of the party’s general election manifesto.
Launching the party’s 114-page manifesto, leader Ed Davey (pictured) argued that there was “no doubt that both the NHS and care are in crisis“ with more than six million people stuck on hospital waiting lists.
“People are waiting hours in pain for an ambulance to arrive, or weeks to see a GP or an NHS dentist – if they can even find one,” he continued.
“Tens of thousands of cancer patients are waiting months to start urgent treatment. Months, when every day could make all the difference.”
He said it was a “manifesto to save the NHS“ with the party putitng forward “a bold, ambitious and fully-costed plan to tackle the health and care crisis from top to bottom.“
Davey continued: “Our NHS used to be the envy of the world. But now, too many people can’t access the care they need.
“The Conservatives have plunged the NHS into crisis – as have the SNP in Scotland and Labour in Wales.
“With more than 100,000 staff vacancies in England alone, a crisis in staff retention, long waiting times, missed targets and poor outcomes, patient safety is being pushed into the danger zone.”
He also argued that unless the country properly valued care and properly support carers, we will never be able to fix the crisis in our NHS, or get our economy back on track.
“And that’s why I am so proud that the Liberal Democrats have put health and care at the heart of our campaign in this general election – and at the heart of our manifesto too.
The manifesto promises
On health, the Liberal Democrat manifesto promises to:
- Give everyone the right to see a GP within seven days, or within 24 hours if they urgently need to, with 8,000 more GPs to deliver on it
- Guarantee access to an NHS dentist for everyone needing urgent and emergency care, ending DIY dentistry and ‘dental deserts’
- Improve early access to mental health services by establishing mental health hubs for young people in every community and introducing regular mental health check-ups at key points in people’s lives when they are most vulnerable to mental ill-health
- Boost cancer survival rates and introduce a guarantee for 100% of patients to start treatment for cancer within 62 days from urgent referral
- Help people to spend five more years of their life in good health by investing in public health
Earlier this month Health & Protection reported that Davey said his party would make “improving cancer care a top priority,” adding the issue was deeply personal to him having lost both his parents to cancer as a child.
“Hospital roofs are literally crumbling, and the Conservatives have broken their promise to build 40 new ones. And talk to anyone in the NHS, and they will tell you a major cause of the crisis in our health service is the crisis in social care,“ he said.
“Right now, there are thousands of people stuck in hospital beds: well enough to be discharged, but unable to leave, because the care they need – at home or in a care home – simply isn’t there.
“After years of Conservative chaos and neglect, the scale of the challenge is enormous. But our manifesto doesn’t shy away from it.”
No increase in income tax
The Liberal Democrats detail how their manifesto promises will be funded in the Funding a Fair Deal document which states the party will fund its fair deal without raising income tax, national insurance contributions or VAT.
“Instead, we will focus on tax changes that make the system fairer – such as reversing the Conservatives’ tax cuts for the big banks and imposing a proper windfall tax on the super-profits of oil and gas companies,” it said.
It adds: “Under our plans, we will get the national debt falling as a share of the economy and ensure that day-to-day spending does not exceed the amount raised in taxes.”
On public investment, the Liberal Democrats said: “We will invest an additional £19.7bn a year on average over the next Parliament in public assets, to boost growth and improve our public services.
“This includes: £1.1bn of investment in hospitals and other NHS infrastructure and equipment.”
The document outlines how it will raise the revenue for a spend of £26.8bn for 2028 to 29.
That includes reversing Conservative cuts to bank taxes, the reform of Capital Gains Tax, a “proper” windfall tax on oil and gas super-profits, an increase in the Digital Services Tax on tech giants, a 4% tax on share buybacks, a sewage tax on water company profits, a tobacco company profits ley, a super tax on private jet flights, the reform of aviation taxes and the tackling of tax avoidance and evasion.
Analysis from The Kings Fund
Commenting on the Liberal Democrat manifesto, Sarah Woolnough, CEO of The King’s Fund, said: “With NHS and social care satisfaction at its lowest level since records began, and polls placing the NHS at the top of issues for the electorate, it is welcome to see the Liberal Democrats put health and social care front-and-centre of their manifesto.”
But on the NHS commitments Woolnough said: “The party’s pledges to rescue NHS services touch on many of the key issues for patients, but could be summed up as good on ambition, light on detail.
“The aim to speed up access to GP appointments by recruiting 8,000 more GPs is a laudable ambition, but as the current government has found, recruiting more GPs and retaining existing ones is not easy, and without more detail on how the party would achieve this goal, it is hard to see how their promise of faster access to GP appointments can be met.
‘Similarly, a legal right for cancer patients to start treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral will be welcomed by many, but it is unclear how enshrining in law a target that already exists will in itself make the target any more achievable.”
And on the health and care funding commitments Woolnough said: “The party has pledged £9.4 billion additional health and care spending a year by 2028-29.
“Of that, £1.1bn a year is for NHS buildings and equipment, and £3.7bn a year is for day-to-day NHS spending.
“While these are large sums of money, in the context of a Department of Health and Social Care budget that is already nearly £190bn in England the depth of the challenges facing our health service, the scale of this funding equates to incremental improvements for the NHS, not wholesale transformation.”