Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting has on Wednesday laid out his vision for reforming the National Health Service, stating that the NHS is “broken but not beaten” after years of Conservative governance.
In his address to the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Streeting highlighted the current challenges facing the NHS, including record-high waiting lists, ambulance delays, and difficulties in accessing GP appointments.
Stressing that “reform or die” is the choice facing the NHS, he rejected the idea of simply increasing funding without systemic changes.
Streeting noted some initial successes since Labour took office, including employing 1,000 more GPs and negotiating an end to junior doctors’ strikes.
He revealed that crack teams of top clinicians will be deployed to hospitals across the country to roll out reforms: to treat more patients and cut waiting lists.
“And I can announce today that the first twenty hospitals targeted by these teams will be in areas with the highest numbers of people off work sick,” he added.
“Because our reforms are focused not only on delivering our health mission but also moving the dial on our growth mission too. We will take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS.”
He outlined plans for a ‘Neighbourhood Health Service’ that would be more digital, preventative, and personalized and promised a ‘New Deal for Care Professionals’ to improve pay and conditions in the social care sector.
Streeting said the Labour government plans to expand patients’ rights to choose where they receive treatment, including private sector options paid for by the NHS.
“Starting in the most disadvantaged areas, we will ensure patients’ right to choose where they are treated, and we will build up local health services so it’s a genuine choice,” he said. “And where there’s capacity in the private sector, patients should be able to choose to go there too, free at the point of use, paid for by the NHS.”
Responding to Streeting’s address, Paul Rees, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, welcomed the focus on prevention and community care, stating, “It was good to hear the secretary of state’s intention to transform the health service to focus on prevention as well as increased care in the community. He is right that if we are to transform outcomes for patients, we must urgently reform our NHS.”
Rees emphasised the crucial role of community pharmacies in the NHS, describing them as “the front door of the NHS” that provide “top class accessible care patients on their doorsteps.” He highlighted their importance in transforming primary care and relieving pressure on hospitals and GP surgeries.
“However, pharmacies are closing at a record rate due to the impact of 40 per cent real terms cuts in their budgets,” Rees added, calling on the government to reverse these cuts to community pharmacy.
“This will help to stabilise the network and allow pharmacies to take on a new expanded role in delivering care for patients,” he said.
