Election watch – week five

Nevertheless, the week was marked largely by the Conservatives and Labour reinforcing their main health messages.

Labour doubled down on its claims that the Tories would put the NHS ‘up for sale’ as part of a post-Brexit trade deal with the United States. Leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote to Mr Trump demanding he clarify whether the NHS was off the table in trade talks and that it would not be exposed to higher drugs costs from US companies. Mr Corbyn said the US should accept the role of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in setting the threshold for the cost-effectiveness of drugs and drop a demand for total market access to public services. 

Earlier in the week he asked Conservative leader Boris Johnson to do the same.

The president duly replied in a press conference that he would not want the health service, even if ‘handed to us on a silver platter’.

The Conservatives promised action on the NHS in their first 100 days if they are elected with a majority next week. A Tory government would give a funding guarantee to the health service – enshrining in law the party’s promise to increase NHS funding by £33.5bn in cash terms by 2023.

A Tory government would also change the law to increase the amount migrants pay to use the NHS in its first 100 days.

The Conservatives said they would also open cross-party talks on solving the challenge in social care. 

In terms of the campaign, social care is the dog that has not yet barked. However, Age UK lifted the lid on some of the issues, with its analysis saying social care delayed discharges have cost the NHS £587m since the last election in 2017. Lack of social care has led to 2.5 million lost bed days, it added.

The Tory manifesto promised to introduce an NHS visa for overseas staff, but the Nuffield Trust published research showing that one in four working in hospitals and a fifth of all health and social care staff were born outside the UK. It added that half of the growth in the health and social care workforce over the last decade was due to people from outside the UK. Staffing is a major issue for health and care and it is unclear how Conservative and Labour policies on hiring staff from abroad would affect the health service, the trust added.