#8 Inside Labour: Patients take back control
Cold weather, seasonal flu, and hospital trusts and care homes catching up with the Christmas leave all combine to push the NHS up the political agenda every January.
Pre-pandemic, the first quarter of the year was always my busiest as a Shadow Health Secretary as I castigated a parade of flailing Tory health ministers over their failures to steward a tired, over-stretched health service through the regular winter crisis.
Smartly, this year Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting were out of the blocks quickly to outline the first steps of their plan to fix our broken NHS and put it back on its feet. In contrast, all Nigel Farage has offered is charging for NHS treatment, while Kemi Badenoch is still in denial about the damage her party caused and hasn't offered anything at all.
“This is the year we reform the NHS” the Prime Minister announced and began to shape a new philosophy of public sector reform for the new Labour government.
The focus will be on the colossal waiting lists, which are now so long thanks to 14 years of the Tories that you can see them from outer space.
Almost two-thirds of those on the list are waiting for tests. That’s why seven-day-a-week diagnostic centres performing tests, and providing X-rays and scans are central to the government’s mission.
But the government can go much further
Wes Streeting is committed to shifting the NHS (which in some circumstances still relies on fax machines and pagers) from analogue to digital.
Yesterday Keir Starmer rightly said he wants to fully leverage the use of AI to transform care. The opportunities here are immense.
For example, we already know AI can spot bone fractures, helping patients avoid unnecessary X-rays. AI can assist paramedics in assessing whether someone needs to be admitted to a hospital. AI can help detect early signs of over 1,000 diseases.
Crucially AI and digital puts control in the hands of the patient too.
For many patients languishing waiting for care often in pain, anxiety and at risk of permanent disability, the key issue isn’t just the overall number of people on the waiting list; it’s how long you are left waiting in the queue.
That's why the health secretary wants to offer patients a real choice of hospital. Has this been tried before? Yes of course. It was a key reform of the new Labour years. Even back in the days of Nye Bevan, patients could (if anyone bothered to ask them) decide where they wanted to receive care.
But technology and a revamped NHS app will finally now give patients real choice and control in deciding where and when to receive care.
Naturally, many patients will still opt for care closest to home.
But in a world where we can choose where we shop, what we eat and what box set we watch via apps on our phones, patients will increasingly expect to be offered the opportunity to decide where to receive care as well.
And technology should mean transparency, allowing patients to know where they are in the queue and what the waits are at different trusts on their NHS app - just like how you can see how far away your taxi is.
This government can’t afford to fail on the NHS
Our analysis here at Labour Together reveals a top driver for Tory to Labour switchers at the last general election was the state of the NHS (tied with the cost of living).
Number 10 strategists know it too.
Yes, there is still more to do. Primary care has to be transformed; A&E can’t be neglected. Mental health services – especially for children – remain shamefully diabolical. There are high hopes for the Casey Social Care Review after 25 years of paralysis.
All of that also takes resources, more staff, better integration of services and a government-wide focus on improving population health.
But today the Labour government began outlining important public service reforms. Patients taking back control is the new ethos. Labour MPs looking up their constituency in various New Year MRP polls, know the plan has to deliver.
Jonathan Ashworth
Chief Executive, Labour Together
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