13.11.19
NHS Confed responds to Labour’s NHS election pledge
NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare system, has responded to Labour’s NHS election pledge.
Ahead of the upcoming general election on Dec 12, Labour have announced their pledge to ‘save the NHS’.
The plan includes an extra £26bn of funding a year, paid for by taxing the wealthiest individuals and companies in the country, as Labour promise to put the NHS first on their list of priorities.
With this pledge, Labour are aiming to reduce A&E waiting times, tackle the NHS staff crisis and place more attention on mental health care.
Responding to the promise of a ‘significant extra investment’ into the NHS, Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said:
“Labour’s pledge to spend more on the NHS would represent a significant extra investment on top of that already pledged by the Conservatives which, if used wisely, would help to transform services and retain frontline staff. Any plan to invest in the NHS should involve local health and care leaders as they are the experts in deciding where additional resource should be directed.
“With 100,000 vacancies, the commitment to invest in training and development cannot come soon enough but alongside efforts to retain and attract staff, we need to able to recruit from overseas. Also, we need to see a commitment to reform the tax laws which are damaging patient care because doctors and other senior frontline clinicians can find themselves worse off for undertaking extra work.
“There is agreement across the parties that more needs to be done on public health and Labour’s pledge clearly recognises the importance of investment here.
“The ambition to restore waiting time standards is laudable but the current clinically-led review must continue to make sure targets not only hold services to account but also allow priority to be given to patients most in need.”
Image : Andrew Matthews/PA Wire/PA Images
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (right) and shadow heath secretary Jonathan Ashworth listen as Julia Fairhall, Area Head of Nursing and Governance at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, speaks during their visit to Crawley Hospital, Crawley, West Sussex