Labor promises to tackle the backlog on NHS waiting lists in England within five years

Labor has pledged to tackle the backlog on England’s NHS waiting list within five years, with Wes Streeting warning that the health service risks becoming “a disservice to poor people” as the rich switch to using private care .

In an interview with the Guardian, the shadow health secretary said that in another Conservative term the total waiting list in England could grow to 10 million cases, with health care being as degraded as NHS dental services.

“I really fear that if Rishi Sunak wins another term, what we have seen happen to NHS dentistry – a poor service for poor people and everyone else who goes private – that is what we will see for the whole of the NHS,” Streeting said. .

In one of Labour’s most prominent and ambitious election pledges, Streeting and Keir Starmer, the party’s leader, will use a campaign visit to the West Midlands to promise to close the backlog of around 3.2 million people in England who are now waiting more than 18 weeks for the NHS treatment will be approved within five years.

The party has previously set out plans to increase weekend and evening services to create an additional 40,000 appointments per week, alongside other measures such as expanding staffing levels and tapping into private healthcare capacity.

However, this is the first time Labor has made such a specific promise about waiting lists. Healthcare analysts said this was a welcome ambition but could prove difficult to achieve.

Streeting said he was aware of the heavy responsibility of achieving the target, but as someone who had been treated for kidney cancer by the NHS, it was his “drive” to achieve it.

“I feel there is a huge burden of responsibility on our shoulders right now,” he said. “The challenge we face today is much greater than in 1997.

“As someone whose life was saved by the NHS when I had kidney cancer, as someone whose family regularly relied on the NHS in good times and bad, if there is only one thing I do with a life saved by the NHS, it makes me dedicate my life to saving the NHS that saved me. And that is my motivation. I really hope people give us the opportunity to do this.”

He added: “I am happy to be judged on every promise we made in this election. As I said to those on the doorstep, especially in relation to Labour’s six first steps, we have been so careful to ensure that the promises we make are promises that we can keep and that the country can commit to. to afford. Because we know that if there is one thing more scarce than money right now, it is trust.”

While part of the faster turnaround time for patients is intended to come from a £1.3 billion annual funding increase, partly paid for by abolishing non-domestic tax status, much of the plan rests on modernization and efficiency.

Streeting has previously clashed with professional bodies such as the British Medical Association, the doctors’ union, but he said there was a willingness within the NHS to change.

“I’m talking to you at a practice in Yorkshire, where the GP partners have led an approach that prioritizes the relationship between GP and doctor and offers a range of value-added services, from singing lessons to helping people with breathing problems to dementia clinics,” he said.

“There are brilliant people on the front lines. They are not resistant to change. They’re crying out for it and they’re desperate for a government that will work with them instead of pulling the rug out from under them. So I don’t feel like it’s me against the NHS when it comes to reforming the NHS. I will work in the NHS and reform the National Health Service so that it is back on its feet and fit for the future.”

NHS waiting lists in England are measured using different metrics depending on the waiting time. The latest figures show that of the 3.2 million people waiting more than 18 weeks, just over 300,000 people have been on a waiting list for a year or more.

The total waiting list includes approximately 6.3 million people, just over 7.5 million cases. Labor will argue that on the current trajectory this would rise to 10 million cases in a next Conservative term.

While healthcare analysts welcomed Labour’s plan, some said the proposals would fail to deliver a “rapid or sudden improvement” in waiting times, while others said it could divert attention from other pressing health issues.

“Closing the backlog within five years would require real effort and focus and could mean that other health and care ambitions will be slower to be achieved,” said Sarah Woolnough, the chief executive of the King’s Fund. “Realizing this ambition to close the backlog within five years would almost certainly require a swift resolution to the ongoing industrial action.”

Woolnough said offering evening and weekend appointments was a good idea, but it was “not a given” that NHS staff would be interested in working extra shifts “when so many are reporting high levels of stress and burnout”.

Thea Stein, the chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, said Labor was right to focus on waiting lists. “We support the intention to spend more money on equipment, which has historically been a victim of short-termism,” she said. “However, the amount of money they propose will only cover a limited amount of additional care, not enough for a rapid or sudden improvement.”