Labour to get back to an 18 week waiting list within the first term

Very, very unlikely….unless of course many on the waiting lists die or go private!

Germanshepherdsmum

Is this yet another thing that’s supposed to be paid for by the evaded taxes? They are going to employ more HMRC staff (cost? Training?) who will take a very long time to identify tax evaders, investigate them and mount a case against them. Pie in the sky. And are they going to pay the doctors the 35% they’re demanding? They haven’t said anything - what’s the cost of that and where would the money come from? Borrowing?

Unfortunately I think you’re right GMS
I really would love the NHS to be able to reduce waiting times for patients but I just think it’s impossible.

I'm sure they will, I remember Blair doing just that. I'm sure there are drs and nurses who will appreciate the chance to earn more. I reckon collecting existing taxes properly will give them a good start.
I'm quite happy to pay more tax for this & other welfare things especially if I know it's not going to Serco etc. I suspect they'll let existing NHS private contracts run out & if the companies don't offer value for money they'll be replaced by an alternative that isn't a private company, I don't know what they're called

Labour’s (imo unfunded) plan to reduce waiting lists to 18 weeks is by the end of the next parliament - five years.

Don’t believe anything promised in an election by any party. It’s just to grab votes! The NHS needs root and branch reform and this is just a promise of yet more tinkering round the edges. No party has enough guts to tackle this question properly; a Royal commission, or something similar, is needed to determine the future of an institution we are cynically encouraged to treat as a national religion.

..and I'd rather see them having a chance giving this aim a try rather than face the continuing chaos, underfunding and inaction from the years of Tory rule.

In 2022/3 the government gave the NHS £181.7 billion wyllow. The NHS spent £171.8 billion of that on day to day items such as staff salaries and medicines. How much more do you think they should have?

I’m not totally sure of the situation here, but do we spend as much as, more than, or less than, other countries with modern healthcare systems? How much do we spend per head of population in comparison to other countries?

Simply won't happen, sadly.

If the junior doctors get 25-35% payrise, then immediately the nurses, teachers, fireservice, civil servants and Uncle Tom Cobley and all will demand the same. Where will the money come from?

Course they will be able to do it there don’t be doctor/nurses strikes , all these strikes have a political aspect to them . Don’t get me wrong I hope it happens but I don’t like being held to ransom

Germanshepherdsmum

In 2022/3 the government gave the NHS £181.7 billion wyllow. The NHS spent £171.8 billion of that on day to day items such as staff salaries and medicines. How much more do you think they should have?

The payments have diminished as compared with need/demand. It's not about how much cash put in, it's whether it rises in proportion to needs. And clearly, not enough

Oh my goodness, you could dead by then.
England, I hope you get a major boost in your national healthcare system by a new (Labour) term. As I understand it, it has been decimated 😵‍💫 by the Tories.

Not that America has perfect healthcare (faaar from it) but when we get sick we get help, for some instances, sooner rather than later. Our Medicare (for seniors) is superb.

It’s going to take a massive effort for NHS doctors to regroup in a wondrous and ethical way for it to happen as I’m sure many have taken financial advantage - they need to be weeded out. The morale of ancillary staff too… everyone has to get onboard. You almost have to start from square 1!

You have to be careful who gets voted in - here we have Trump and his conservatives who VOW to take away our Medicare and even cut out our Social Security. Really???

maddyone

I hope you haven’t got a pension pot. Labour raided the private pensions in the first budget of it’s last term. That was one way they funded public spending.

Indeed they did. When taxes on pensions were imposed by Gordon Brown they significantly reduced the final value of many of our pensions. For some the shortfall has had to be made up by Pension Credits.

cc

maddyone

I hope you haven’t got a pension pot. Labour raided the private pensions in the first budget of it’s last term. That was one way they funded public spending.

Indeed they did. When taxes on pensions were imposed by Gordon Brown they significantly reduced the final value of many of our pensions. For some the shortfall has had to be made up by Pension Credits.

Are you going to clarify 'economic reality' for us, cc?

MaizieD

Would you like to tell us all about this 'economic reality, cc?

That there simply isn't the money available to pump into the NHS to achieve Labour's (sadly) unrealistic targets. This is especially true if a potential Labour government really do intend not to increase taxation.
Even if such money as is available is poured into the NHS (which many like myself see as a bottomless pit) the likelihood is that NHS management will spend it on more management, more consultations on how to run the NHS and more IT management systems to tell them what is going wrong.
We all know that that the NHS simply wasn't set up to deal with so many different problems as it is facing today. It is spread too thinly.
You say that "health professionals have agreed it is doable" - of course everything is "doable", given enough available cash. But what expenditure can any government cut to give enough?
Pensions? I would hope not.
Disability payments? Possibly, but I know from family experience that these are already hard to get and not always generous.
Maternity pay? Again, I would hope not.
Child Benefit? Already this has been cut back for working parents on higher salaries and for larger families.
Payments to local authorities? I do hope not, thinking of the already high level of Council Tax and the demand for Housing Benefit and Care packages for those who need them.
Benefits and financial support for those on a low income? Pension Credits?
Each of these payment streams is vital for those receiving it.

I don't believe the 18 week waiting list is "doable" under current circumstances, though I do agree that for some people it should be seen as really necessary. Perhaps we will just have to accept that it might be possible to have shorter waiting lists for really essential procedures and that this will be at the cost of even longer waiting lists for many others requiring less essential treatment.
Perhaps we will have to accept that some treatment will not be done on the NHS at all.

I have just one question - HOW ?????

Supergran1946

I have just one question - HOW ?????

Yes, my question too.

I agree Pantglas2. I rue the day I moved to Wales 4 years ago. Under a continuous Labour Gvt everything here, especially health care is a s**t show. If Labour can’t be bothered to improve healthcare in Wales why would a Labour Gvt in Parliament be any different?

So, what’s the alternative?
Another fourteen years of Tory austerity.

I’d rather take my chances with Labour any day.

Look what Starmer said about using Wales as a blueprint for how Labour will work, that’s worrying. It’s awful here. Wales has longer NHS waiting lists than England, schools are crying out for funding and Labour in Wales have spent £36m on trying to enforce a 20mph speed limit.

ha ha ha ha!

Good one. They haven't lost after 14 years of Opposition, have they!

18 weeks?! Good? But that is 4 months. Long time.

18 weeks in five years’ time. And how exactly?

What are the Conservative commitments to the NHS in 5 years?