“We did it before and we will do it again”: Labour’s first steps to clear NHS backlog in five years
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Labour will today (Wednesday) set out the choice for voters at the
election on the National Health Service, announcing as part of the
party's first steps for a future Labour government how it will
bring an end to the Conservatives' NHS waiting list backlog. The
party will point to new figures that reveal NHS waiting
lists will hit 10 million - rising from the current level of
7.5 million - if the Conservative Party is given another 5
years in office. That number of...Request free trial
Labour will today (Wednesday) set out the choice for voters at the election on the National Health Service, announcing as part of the party's first steps for a future Labour government how it will bring an end to the Conservatives' NHS waiting list backlog. The party will point to new figures that reveal NHS waiting lists will hit 10 million - rising from the current level of 7.5 million - if the Conservative Party is given another 5 years in office. That number of people would fill Wembley stadium 111 times over. Labour will spend today focused on exposing what the Prime Minister himself admitted as his failure to deliver on his own ambitions on NHS waiting lists. On a campaign visit to the West Midlands, Labour leader Keir Starmer and Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting will commit the next Labour government to clearing the waiting lists backlog of patients, who have been waiting for more than 18 weeks, within five years. Pointing to the last Labour government's record, they will tell voters that Labour has done it before and will do it again. Labour's plan to clear the Tories' NHS waiting list backlog in five years includes:
The extra appointments and scanners will cost £1.3 billion and will be paid for by clamping down on tax dodgers and closing non-dom tax loopholes. Labour will warn that waiting lists are set to hit over 10 million if the Conservatives are given another five years in office. Since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, waiting lists are up 600,000, and the Conservatives have failed to identify a single change they will make to the NHS, should they win the election. Instead of setting out a plan, the Conservatives are fiddling the figures and hoping to dupe patients. Despite the latest NHS waiting lists lengthening by an extra 7,000 last month, Victoria Atkins and the Conservative Party have both falsely claimed that waiting lists are falling. The NHS Constitution guarantees patients treatment within a maximum wait of 18 weeks. However, this target has been missed every month since February 2016. The number of patients waiting longer than 18 weeks today stands at 3.2 million, almost half of the total waiting list, with more than 300,000 patients having waited more than a year. In 1997, patients routinely waited 18 months for NHS treatment. The last Labour government cut maximum waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks and ended long waits for treatment. Today, 4,000 patients have been stuck on waiting lists for 18 months. Waiting lists have trebled to 7.5 million since the Conservatives came to power in 2010 and were at record lengths before the Covid pandemic struck. The Conservatives have missed every target set in the NHS Elective Recovery Plan. Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, 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. “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. “Wait with the Tories. Change with Labour.” Wes Streeting, Labour's Shadow Health Secretary, said: “Over 14 years, the Conservatives have taken the golden inheritance left by the last Labour government and wrecked it. Their neglect, incompetence, and underinvestment in the NHS has left millions of people waiting in pain and agony. “Rishi Sunak has given up on the NHS. He has no plan to turn this crisis around, which he blames on doctors and nurses instead of taking any responsibility himself. Patients deserve solutions not scapegoats. “If the Conservatives get another five years then nothing will change, the crisis in the NHS will get worse, and waiting lists will hit 10 million. The longer the Conservatives are in charge, the longer patients will wait. “We will deliver an extra 40,000 appointments a week at evenings and weekends, the first step on our mission to beat the Tory backlog. We will pay for it by clamping down on tax dodgers, because patients need doctors, not dodgers.” Ends Notes
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