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Politics |
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Sir Keir Starmer delivers speech on Labour plans for the NHS, with big role for health tech |
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Sir Keir Starmer, the head of the Labour Party, has delivered a speech setting out his ambitions for the NHS. He said he didn’t believe that the NHS “could take five more years of Tory government” and Labour would “fix the fundamentals, renew its purpose, and make it fit for the future.” However, he also said Labour would not “put the service on a pedestal” and there would be “serious, deep, long-term changes” to address public health challenges, make general practice sustainable, run consolidated waiting lists, and end delayed discharges.
He also promised a “move from an analogue to a digital NHS”, built around making more use of the NHS App, creating “fully digital patient records”, “putting patients in control of their own data”, and using AI to improve workforce productivity. Few of the Labour leader’s ideas are new but think-tanks generally responded positively on the grounds that many of Starmer’s long-term changes are long-overdue. On the other hand, they questioned whether Labour will be able to avoid the short-termism that besets most governments in office and where the money will come from (summary, Labour List). The BMA also argued that, to be successful, Labour must address “shameful levels of poverty in this country.” |
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