Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer will outline plans on Monday to get the NHS back “on its feet” if his party wins the next general election, by pledging to cut waiting times and reduce deaths from cancer, heart disease and suicide.
In a speech, Starmer will argue that the future of the NHS will be “at stake” in the election, which is expected next year, and warn that the health service is not sustainable unless “serious, profound and long-term changes” are made.
Starmer will be committed to achieving NHS targets for cancer, ensuring patients are seen on time and diagnosed early. It also promises to reduce deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25 percent within 10 years, reduce waiting times for emergencies and accidents and ensure a decrease in deaths from suicide within five years.
With opinion polls currently giving his party a double-digit lead, Starmer will say: “The next Labor government will get the NHS there when it needs it…we will get the NHS back on its feet.”
The health service is a major concern for voters after months of strike action and staff shortages. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made reducing waiting times for the NHS one of five pledges as leader.
according to YouGov45 percent of those surveyed believe that health is the most important issue facing the country, second only to dealing with the economy.
The state of the health services also dominated the last local election in May which saw the Conservatives lose nearly 1,000 council seats across England.
The Financial Times reported over the weekend that medical professionals, including the Royal College of Radiologists, had written to Health Secretary Steve Barclay warning that cancer patients’ chances of survival were falling due to delays in treatment in England caused by staff shortages.
The letter warned that staffing levels had forced many hospital departments to make “difficult decisions about denying access to approved treatments or prioritizing patients who can receive treatment at a safe time over others”.
The letter added that long waiting times for cancer patients are now “unfortunately routine,” noting that for each month of delay, the risk of death increases by about 10 percent.
Overall, the waiting list for all hospital treatments in England reached a record 7.3 million at the end of March, according to official data published this month, with nearly 360,000 people waiting longer than a year and 11,000 waiting more than 18 months.