The NHS may be broken, but people will not need to raid their savings to go private and will not face having to pay charges, according to health secretary Wes Streeting who was speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool this morning.
On receiving criticism over his views on the current state of the NHS, Streeting (pictured) said: “I won’t back down.
“The NHS is broken – but its not beaten and together we will turn it around.
“And make no mistake, the Tories had a plan for the NHS – mismanaged decline, a status quo so poor people are forced to raid their savings to go private.
“A crisis so bad that seven in 10 people now expect charges for NHS care to be introduced.“
Over my dead body
“I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – over my dead body..
“We will always defend our NHS and a public service free at the point of use, so that whenever you fall ill you never have to worry about the bill.”
Since the pandemic, the NHS waiting list has grown to more than seven million people, appearing to stabilise earlier this year after more than a decade of growth.
In August Health & Protection reported the number of people waiting for NHS treatment increased by more than 19,000 in June as numbers stayed above 7.6 million people for a consecutive month, according to official data.
But Streeting promised that the waiting lists would decline.
“By the next general election, waiting lists will be demonstrably lower because I know that’s how I will be judged, how the prime minister will be judged, how the government will be judged – people will judge us by our actions, not just our words ultimately.”