Sir Keir Starmer will warn that the NHS must “reform or die” as the government publishes the results of an independent review into the state of the health service.
The report was commissioned by Health Secretary Wes Streeting just days after he became Health Secretary and written by his colleague, the surgeon general, Lord Darge.
He will conclude that the NHS is in a “state of crisis” with record levels of waiting lists and hospitals overspending. He will also note that there has been a marked deterioration in the health of the population over the past 15 years.
But Lord Darge will also say that the department has staff who “share our passion and determination to improve the NHS for patients” and that the vital signs of the service “remain strong”.
In his speech on Thursday, the Prime Minister will point to the findings of the investigation and shift the blame to the Conservative government, particularly the impact of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act, which the report described as a “disaster” and “the damage has been proven”. He will say the results have been disastrous, and claim there has been a decade of underinvestment.
But he will set out his own solutions in Labour’s 10-year plan which promises to “leave the fingerprints of NHS staff and patients behind”.
Sir Keir will say: “We had high bed utilisation and very few doctors, nurses and beds compared with other high-income health systems in the world.
“And let’s be clear about what caused this… a ‘scorched earth’ approach to health reform, the effects of which are still felt today.
“The 2010s were a lost decade for our NHS… the NHS is failing to be there for patients today and woefully unprepared for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.”
The Prime Minister will say that the Government has a “significant responsibility” to address the problem for health and economic reasons, and promise three “big changes” to its approach:
- Making more use of technology to create a “digital NHS”
- Moving more care from hospital to healthcare in the community
- Moving from treating disease to preventing it
Sir Keir will warn that what he calls “the biggest overhaul of the NHS since its creation” will “not be easy, nor will it come quickly”.
But he will add: “What we need are long-term reforms – not band-aid solutions but the courage to undertake major reforms.
“The NHS is at a crossroads and we have a choice about how we meet these growing demands – either raise taxes on working people to cover the rising costs of an ageing population, or implement reforms to protect our future.
“We know we can’t afford to pay working people any more, so it’s reform or death.”
Shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins said the Conservatives would “consider the report carefully”, but argued Labour seemed to have “missed an opportunity to set out a meaningful reform plan”.
She added: “We Conservatives know that investment must go hand in hand with reform, which is why we have set out long-term plans for productivity, technology, Pharmacy First, Virtual Stations, attracting and training pharmaceutical research, and retaining staff. We have done this whilst increasing real investment in the NHS every year.
“A Labour Government will be judged by its actions. They have stopped building new hospitals, destroyed our social reforms and extorted pensioners’ money to fund unsustainable pay rises without improving productivity. They need to move from rhetoric to action.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who campaigned heavily on health and social care in the last election, said the report’s findings show the NHS is “in decline after years of downturn. The Conservatives are bankrupting our local health services.”
He said fixing the problem was “this country’s biggest challenge” and called for the government to “make it a top priority.” He added: “This will also require recruiting more GPs, fixing sick hospitals and, above all, tackling the crisis in social care which has been ignored for too long.”
