Why Labour?
The NHS is the Labour Party’s greatest achievement. We created it, we saved it, we value it and we will always support it. Over Labour’s 11 years in government, substantial and sustained investment in the NHS backed by vital reforms have transformed the service. We have ensured the NHS has the staff it needs and backed them to deliver improvements in quality and capacity, driving up standards and driving down waits. Now we are bringing healthcare closer to communities and giving patients more power and control, making sure the NHS is there for you when and where you need it.
Key achievements:
- Waiting lists are down by 614,000 since 1997. Most patients are now waiting less than 13 weeks, and by the end of this year nobody will wait more than 18 weeks for treatment.
- Over 99% of suspected cancer patients are seen by a specialist within two weeks of being referred by their GP, and over 99% of cancer patients start their treatment within a month of diagnosis.
- Over 38,000 more doctors and 80,000 more nurses since Labour came to power.
- Investment in the NHS has trebled since 1997.
- Labour has built over 90 new NHS walk-in centres and over 650 one-stop primary care centres, and is investing £750 million in a new generation of modern, convenient community hospitals.
- Cancer mortality rates in under-75s have decreased by 17.1 per cent since 1996, saving nearly 9,000 lives in 2006 compared to 1996. We are saving 31,000 lives from cardiovascular diseases every year compared to 1996.
Winning the fight for Britain's future:
- Labour is opening at least 100 new GP practices in the areas which need them most, along with 152 new GP-led health centres to be open 8am-8pm, seven days a week.
- Labour has negotiated a deal with doctors so that by 2009 most GP practices will be open for at least one evening or weekend surgery a week.
- All hospitals have been deep cleaned, and the number of matrons, to keep them clean and enforce hospital cleanliness, has been brought up to 5,000. By March 2009 every non-emergency patient will be screened for MRSA.
- Since April 2008 all patients have been able to choose from any hospital provider in England that meets NHS standards and costs, giving patients more control and helping to drive up standards.
- From 2009, we will roll out a national programme of vascular checks for everyone aged between 40 and 74, to prevent at least 9,500 heart attacks and strokes every year and save 2,000 lives.
- By the end of 2010, we will have extended the ages at which adults are screened so that an additional 500,000 women will be screened for breast cancer and 2 million men and women will be screened for bowel cancer.
- By 2011, 3,600 more new psychological therapists will have treated 900,000 more people with depression and anxiety, improving their quality of life and reducing the numbers on sick pay and benefits.