‘The only way out is change’: Starmer says the NHS is ‘broken’ in ‘unforgivable’ ways in a key health service review.

September 7, 2024, 22:45 | Updated: 8 September 2024, 09:30

The NHS has been “broken” by the Tories in “unforgivable” ways, Sir Keir Starmer has said in a new interview.

The Prime Minister’s comments come ahead of a review of NHS children’s treatment – due to be published on Thursday.

Written by chief surgeon Lord Darzi, the wide-ranging report is expected to reveal that more than 100,000 babies under the age of two were forced to wait more than six hours in A&E departments across England. last year.

Speaking from Downing Street, Sir Keir criticized the NHS reforms made by the Conservative government.

He called the changes “hopeless” as part of an interview with Laura Kuenssberg and accused his predecessors of leaving the health service unprepared for the pandemic after panicking.

“This is an assessment that allows us to accurately assess the state of the NHS,” Starmer said.

It comes as it is revealed that the UK has been hit harder by Covid-19 than other developed countries.

Reasons revealed in the report show that the NHS has been “significantly undercut” by the government’s risk policies over the past decade, according to a wide-ranging report written by leading doctors.

The review, sent to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, also aims to point to declining vaccination rates, and the rise in ADHD medication and hospitalizations related to the illness for children.

As part of an interview broadcast on Sunday morning on BBC One, Sir Keir said: “Everybody watching this who has used the NHS, or their relatives knows it’s broken, they know it’s broken, it’s It’s unforgivable, our situation. NHS.”

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The health service was found to have reduced its “standard healthcare performance by a greater percentage than other healthcare systems” in a number of key areas during the Covid pandemic.

The Prime Minister said the health service’s problems were caused by “money taken from the NHS, particularly in the early years of the coalition from 2010 onwards, the (Andrew) Lansley reforms, which were not well known. And now, of course, Covid above all, has put us in this bad situation for the NHS”.

During the debate, the PM likened the task of organizing the NHS to “building a house,” explaining that “painting over” the current damage is not the answer, adding “without the foundations”

Admitting that no one would be surprised by the report’s conclusions, Starmer said he was well aware that Labor would “have to be unpopular” to fix the health system.

“Popular decisions are not hard, they are easy,” Starmer said in part of the debate, adding that the previous government had “run away from hard decisions”.

Sir Keir is also expected to blame the NHS’s failings on the previous government, as he did for the UK’s economic situation.

“The last government broke the NHS,” he will say.

The Prime Minister will add: “Our work now with Lord Darzi understands exactly how that happened and brings about changes, starting with the first steps, another 40,000 votes.

“But we have to do the hard yards of change again. And as I say, I think only a Labor Government can make the change that our NHS needs, and we will start on that journey .”

During the debate, Sir Keir will also face questions about the Government’s response to the summer riots, the Grenfell Tower fire, the Government’s claims of a £22 billion black hole in the public purse, his upcoming visit to the White House , and name. of Downing Street’s new cat.

Life writer Wes Streeting will be on LBC Sunday With Lewis Goodall on LBC at 10.30am.