Labour’s public consultation on how to improve the NHS has backfired spectacularly just hours after it launched this morning.
Health Minister Wes Streeting wants to take stock of the views of patients and staff on the future of healthcare over the next ten years.
Yet the online consultation website, which publishes all responses immediately, has seen Britons flood the site with not-so-serious suggestions, including Tony Blair as health chief and extending the right to free healthcare to all pets.
One even called for ‘mandatory euthanasia to fill hospital beds’ to ‘think about savings’.
Another urged the health care system to rent out empty seats in movie theaters “so people can watch a movie while they wait to be seen.”
Health Minister Wes Streeting wants to take stock of the views of patients and staff on the future of healthcare over the next ten years
Yet the online consultation website, which publishes all responses immediately, has seen Britons flood the site with not-so-serious suggestions, including ‘mandatory euthanasia’ and free cinema tickets on the NHS.
A third anonymous response even controversially claimed that the NHS should impose a maximum BMI for all nurses.
Announcing the consultation, Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘My mother worked for the NHS, my sister worked for the NHS, and my wife still works for the NHS.
“So I know first-hand how difficult it has been for staff and patients who have been fighting a broken system for more than a decade. But it’s time to roll up our sleeves and solve it.”
Meanwhile, Mr Streeting said: ‘When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, the NHS saved my life, as it has done for so many people in our country.
‘We all owe a debt of gratitude to the NHS for a moment in our lives when it was there for us, when we needed it. Now we have the opportunity to repay that debt.”
But among the thousands of proposals submitted today was a ‘euthanasia idea’.
The anonymous respondent wrote: ‘I think this would fit very well into Wes Streeting’s ‘Ozempic for Fatties’ strategy.
‘What if the options were: 1) Take the Ozempic or 2) ‘get help along the way’ to free up precious NHS resources and save our beloved key workers.
Other suggestions published online today also called for Tony Blair as health chief and for the right to free healthcare to be extended to all pets
“There’s just no money to let fatties and other selfish people occupy hospital beds.”
Last week, Streeting revealed that the government wants to use the jabs to stimulate the economy and get unemployed obese people back to work.
Weight-related diseases cost the economy £74 billion a year, with overweight people at increased risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.
Two in three Brits are overweight or obese, and NHS figures show people now weigh around a stone more than they did 30 years ago.
Another urged the NHS to consider ‘renting out empty seats in cinemas’ to promote Britons’ mental health.
They said: ‘Cinemas need a boost – often empty after the pandemic. We need hospital beds. People love movies. People have psychological problems.’
A third response, meanwhile, controversially called for a “maximum BMI for nurses.”
They added: ‘They must lead by example.’
One user also called for Sir Tony Blair to be appointed head of NHS England and Alan Milburn – former Health Secretary under Sir Tony – to be his ‘Reform Tsar’.
“Significant salaries must follow,” they said.
It is widely expected that Mr Milburn will be offered an official position at the Department of Health, after months of attending meetings at NHS England and the Department of Health. despite not having a formal role, such as that of minister or special advisor.
Several responses to the online consultation also called on the health service to stop spending millions a year on diversity officers and schemes.
Andrew Smith wrote: ‘Currently the NHS spends between £13 and £40 million a year on diversity officers and related ‘educational’ activities.’
Others also demanded an end to free healthcare for non-Britons and visitors from abroad.
One wrote: ‘It looks like we are paying for an international health service where foreigners can fly to Britain and use NHS services for free.’
Announcing the consultation, Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘My mother worked for the NHS, my sister worked for the NHS, and my wife still works for the NHS. So I know firsthand how difficult it has been for the staff and for the patients who have been fighting a broken system for more than a decade. But it’s time to roll up our sleeves and solve it’
As he set out the Government’s 10-year health plan on Sunday, Mr Streeting stressed the importance of patients’ relationships with their GP. He said this was one of the things the government wanted to protect, along with free healthcare at the time of need and shorter waiting times for medical attention. dates.
In Opposition, the party pledged to ‘build an NHS fit for the future’, with a greater emphasis on preventing ill health, shifting care from hospitals to the community and harnessing the latest technology to improve care to improve.
He said: ‘Our ten-year healthcare plan will maintain the traditional values of the NHS in a modern setting.’
The plan is also expected to include a greater role for wearable technology to help people monitor their health and create a single health record that patients can view via the NHS app.
But the Health Secretary also refused to rule out the introduction of fines for patients who miss NHS appointments.
While he insisted this was not something he was thinking about now, he said he would be “more open-minded” if it were still an issue in the future.