28.09.11
Reforms threaten Conservative support
Labour is set to claim that the NHS reforms form a ‘lethal’ threat to Prime Minister David Cameron, with voters asking serious questions about the future of the NHS, when Shadow Health Secretary John Healey addresses the party conference in Liverpool today.
Healey will identify a series of problems with the reforms, including the fact that 50% more patients have waited longer than the target times under the current Government compared to when Labour were in power. He will also suggest that hospitals will be unable to protect frontline services under such severe cuts.
In an interview with the Guardian, before his speech to the Labour conference on Wednesday, Healey said: “Cameron made promises on the NHS he is now breaking. The NHS is being cut; services are being cut … When you combine that with how important the NHS is as a security for us and our families, if people start to feel there are question marks over that – in the long run that is likely to be lethal for Cameron and the Tories.
“We have been preparing the ground on the NHS for next year, the year after, [and] for a winter of possible pressure on hospitals and a winter where it may be the service pressures and the financial pressures which really start to tell.”
Labour will be joining forces with Liberal Democrat peer Lady Williams, who is leading campaigner for changes to the Bill. The group claims that the Bill is built on a pro-market platform of competition and choice, and will be looking for a guarantee that Lansley will retain residual responsibility for the health service.
Healey said: “The Lords are better placed for this Bill than they have been for any other bill. The closer people look, the more they know, the less they like. There is a quiet head of political steam in the House of Lords. There is a strong head of steam to the criticism and opposition of many of the professional groups.
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