Labour plans community shift

Pledging measures to modernise the NHS, Mr Streeting (pictured) said the health service would place more emphasis on prevention, early intervention, and care in the community.

‘Because people can’t see a GP they end up in A&E, which is worse for them and more expensive for the taxpayer. Because people can’t get the mental health support they need, they reach a crisis point, which is worse for them and more expensive for the taxpayer. Because people can’t get the social care they need, they’re left stuck in hospital, which is worse for them and more expensive for the taxpayer.

‘So, the next Labour government will agree a 10-year plan with the NHS to shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community.’

The programme would be underpinned by a workforce plan. Mr Streeting said that without an NHS workforce plan all other announcements were a ‘sticking plaster’ that failed to address the root causes of the crisis in the health service.

He reiterated the commitment shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves had made earlier in the week. A Labour government would double the number of medical training places and create an extra 10,000 clinical placements for nurses and midwives every year, she said.

Ms Reeves said this would be funded by reinstating the 45p top rate of income tax, abolished by chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in his mini-Budget on 23 September.

Additional staff would lower waiting times and lead to higher standards of care for patients, Mr Streeting said.

There would also be 8,500 community mental health workers. Better pay and terms and conditions for care workers would reduce the 400,000 delayed discharges every month and provide better quality care. He described these moves as ‘the first steps on the road to a national care service’.

He added that the NHS must use technology to transform patient care, with genomics and data offered the biggest prize – changing from a service that diagnoses and treats illness to one that predicts and prevents it.