Plans to cut NHS waiting lists are welcome, but this must not be at the expense of patients waiting on trolleys, says St Ives MP Andrew George.
Sir Keir Starmer announces his elective reform plan in front of NHS staff yesterday.
Photograph: Simon Dawson/10 Downing Street
Mr George, a member of the health select committee, adds that the prime minister should not be putting private profit before patient care.
He said that, after years of Conservative failure and neglect, the prime minister must recognise there is another brutal winter crisis, with patients suffering unacceptably long waits in ambulances and emergency departments.
“It doesn’t help that the government kicked social care reform into the political long grass last week,” he said. “If the health secretary can commission Professor Darzi to produce an excellent report into much-needed restoration of the NHS in just nine weeks, then it really shouldn’t take three years to do the same for social care.
“We’ve indicated where the government needs to get the money to invest in both hospital and in social care to restore our services.
“The PM should reverse the Conservative corporation tax cuts on big business, and the banks, levy a windfall tax on the large energy giants, make big tech companies pay their way, and cut the tax loopholes which give billions to second/holiday property investors who don’t need it and invest that in restoring our health and care services.”
