Labour: it will cost £37 BILLION to heal Tory damage to #OurNHS

In Jeremy Corbyn’s speech to the RCN conference this morning, he is underlining Labour’s commitment to the NHS – both to its patients and to the people who work tirelessly to hold it up under a relentless Tory assault.

Under the Tories, the strong NHS that they inherited from Labour is coming apart at the seams:

• 3.7 million people were on waiting lists for treatment in March 2017, compared to 2.4 million at March 2010. (Source: NHS England)
• The key standard of 95 per cent of patients being seen within 4 hours in A&E has been missed every month since July 2015.
• Almost 2.5 million patients waited over 4 hours in A&E in the last full financial year, compared to just 350,000 in the last year of the last Labour government. (Source: NHS England)

By resourcing hospitals to deliver the 95 per cent standard, Labour will help millions of people every year who are waiting too long in A&E under the Tories.

The Party will go further by bringing in a new, additional one-hour guarantee for the most urgent patients to be seen at A&E.

The NHS and local government will also be set a joint target for reducing delayed discharge and get patients out of hospital, supported by adequate care packages.  This will be enabled by Labour’s investment in the NHS and social care, so that by 2019, 80 per cent of patients no longer needing to stay in hospital will be released from hospital with an appropriate care package within a week of being deemed ready for release.

Labour’s press release ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s speech gives more detail:

Labour’s New Deal for the NHS

Labour is today announcing a New Deal for NHS, with a pledge to take millions of people off waiting lists and fix England’s broken A&Es with essential additional funding and tough new targets. 

Where the Tories have failed to deliver, Labour will:

• Give the NHS anan extra £37 billion over the course of the next Parliament, including £10 billion of capital funding to make sure that NHS buildings and IT systems are fit for the modern day.
• Take one million people off NHS waiting lists by the end of the Parliament, by guaranteeing access to treatmentwithin 18 weeks.
• Guarantee patients can be seen in A&Ewithin four hours.
• Create a new £500 million winter pressures fund to help ensure patients never have to experience a winter crisis like the one of recent months.
• Deliver the Cancer Strategy for England in full by 2020, helping 2.5 million people living with cancer.

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at the Royal College of Nurses Conference, will say: 

“This is about having a health service for the many. In the past seven years the Tories have driven our National Health Service into crisis.

“A&E departments are struggling to cope. Waiting lists are soaring and, and as we saw last week, Tory cuts have exposed patient services to cyberattack.

“Imagine what would happen to the NHS if the Conservatives under Theresa May were to have another five years in power. It would be unrecognisable: a national health service in name, cut back, broken up and plundered by private corporations.

“Only Labour will put the NHS back on its feet. Today we are pledging an extra £37 billion over the course of the next Parliament, including £10 billion of capital funding to make sure that NHS buildings and IT systems are fit for the modern day.

“That investment will mean the NHS will be able to guarantee treatment within 18 weeks and ensure those needing A&E services are seen within four hours.

 “You can’t trust the Tories with our NHS. Labour founded the NHS and we will restore it to good health.” 

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said:

“Ahead of the NHS’s 70^th Birthday Labour is promising to give the NHS the resources it needs to deliver the best possible service for patients right across the country. NHS staff and patients have been let down by the Tories for too long.

“Clinicians, experts and patients have all been calling for a significant cash boost to the NHS. We’ve listened to those calls and we agree.

“In return for this investment, we’re demanding the NHS deliver a ‘New Deal for Patients’ and ensure one million people come off the NHS waiting list, that a million more patients are seen within four hours in A&E each year, and that the NHS and community services work hard to tackled delayed discharge.

“We will also bring forward £10 billion of capital investment to upgrade IT systems, prioritise the cyber security of the networks and renew crumbling hospitals.

“The choice in this election is now clear. Investment in the NHS under Labour or NHS cuts under the Tories. Labour will rebuild the NHS for the 21^st Century, giving patients the modern, well-resourced services they need both in and out of hospital.”

By properly resourcing the NHS, Labour will guarantee the standards of service to which patients are legally entitled under the NHS Constitution but which the Tories have failed to deliver. Labour will: 

• Take one million people off NHS waiting lists by the end of the Parliament, by guaranteeing access to treatment within 18 weeks
• Guarantee patients can be seen in A&E within four hours and help another million people each year who are being failed by the Tories.
• Deliver the Cancer Strategy for England in full by 2020, helping 2.5 million people living with cancer.

And in return for extra investment Labour will ask the NHS to work towards delivering even better standards of care.  Labour will:

• Develop a new target for delayed discharge of patients ensuring 80 per cent of patients are released from hospital with an appropriate care package within a week of being deemed ready for release.
• Bring in a new, additional one-hour guarantee for the most urgent patients to be seen at A&E.
• Labour will work with the NHS to set a much more ambitious target for cancer referrals – more than halving the time for 95 per cent of people to begin their treatment from 62 days to four weeks, replacing the current target for 85 per cent to be seen within 62 days.

To support the best possible standards for patients Labour are announcing a new funding settlement which gives the NHS the money it needs to turn services around.

• Labour will improve patient standards by giving the NHS an extra £37 billion over the course of the next Parliament, including £10 billion of capital funding to make sure that NHS buildings and IT systems are fit for the modern day. 
• To help ensure patients never have to experience a winter crisis like the one of recent months, Labour will create a new £500m winter pressures fund which helps hospitals to cope with rising demand.

Labour’s New Deal for NHS Patients:

• Labour are pledging at this election to give the NHS the money it needs to restore patient standards.
• Under the Tories key targets on A&E and cancer are being repeatedly missed, and the 18 week treatment target has been dropped indefinitely. The NHS Forward Viewmade clear that the NHS is “under real pressure from rising demand within a tight funding envelope”.
• At the last election, the Tories promised the NHS £10 billion, but the Health Select Committee has said: “If the spending review period is considered—2015–16 to 2020–21—that increase is £4.5 billion.” House of Commons, Health Select Committee Report, Impact of the Spending Review on health and social care, 19 July 2016.
• Labour’s New Deal for the NHS is a fully funded plan to give the NHS the money it needs to turn services around.
• In exchange for the funding Labour will demand clear improvements for patients, including reduced waiting lists, improved A&E care, world class outcomes for cancer and, by 2019, a new measure to tackle delayed discharge from hospital.

Funding:

Funding for Labour’s New Deal for NHS Patients will be met from Income Tax on the top five per cent of earners with additional funding from Corporation Tax, higher rate insurance premium tax on private medical insurance and Labour’s National Transformation Fund of capital expenditure.

The lifting of the public sector pay cap, will be funded from a proportion of our previously announced gradual increases in Corporation Tax.

As part of Labour’s National Transformation Fund £10 billion across the course of the Parliament will be used for capital investment in the NHS, matching the estimated need identified by NHS Providers.

In total this represents a cash boost of £37 billion for the English NHS across the course of the Parliament.

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