After 14 years of decline under the Tories, the NHS is under incredible pressure with waiting list lengths having doubled since the start of 2020. Here are Labour’s key manifesto commitments to address this crisis:
- 40,000 more appointments each week and increase overtime rates for NHS staff, to cut NHS waiting times and make it easier to get an appointment in the first place.
- Create shared waiting lists across neighbouring hospitals in the same ward, to combine resources and reduce waiting times.
- Recruit thousands more GPs and guarantee a face-to-face appointment for anyone who requests one.
- Create a Community Pharmacist Prescribing Service to give independent pharmacies more rights to prescribe, relieving pressure on GPs.
- 8,500 new mental health staff and establish open access Young Future Hubs in every community to provide young people with mental health support.
- Double the number of MRI and CT scanners with the goal of earlier cancer diagnoses for patients.
- A Dentistry Rescue Plan, providing 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruiting more dentists in areas that need them most, incentivised by reforming dental contracts.
- Regulation of NHS managers to give them support and accountability and establishing a Royal College of Clinical Leadership
The full manifesto and more information can be found here: Labour Manifesto 2024
