LABOUR’S Shadow Health Secretary said the party will implement “ground-breaking changes” in the NHS and tackle “grotesque inequalities” in the provision of health services regionally.
Wes Streeting was speaking after Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer outlined a ten-year plan to reform the NHS.
He told GB News: “I can understand why after years of broken promises from the Conservatives, people are cynical.
“Even if the NHS weren’t in the biggest crisis in its history, even if the public finances weren’t in the mess, which they are, the NHS would still need to change in order to meet the needs of Britain today and into the future, not Britain as it was back in 1948 when the NHS was founded.
“And that needs three big shifts, from a focus on hospital care to better community services, whether that’s general practice access to pharmacy, new mental health hubs, Labour’s committed to orientate support in people’s homes, which would support through greater investment in district nursing.”
In a discussion with Patrick Christys, he continued: “We also need to shift from analogue to digital, we’ve got amazing life sciences and technology in this country which can offer ground-breaking changes in the way that we treat, diagnose, and prevent illness.
“And thirdly, we got to do better in terms of the health of the nation and tackling the grotesque inequalities.
“That means that people can die almost two decades earlier, if they’re from a poor part of the north of England than if they’re in a wealthier leafy part of the south-east. And that just can’t be right in today’s day and age.”
Asked how the reforms would be paid for, Mr Streeting said: “Abolishing the non-dom tax status, raises just over £3 billion pounds, £1.6 billion goes to the biggest expansion of NHS staff in history and the rest goes to primary school breakfast clubs in every school, so that kids start the day with hungry minds not hungry bellies.”
