The Labour Party has said it would aim to save £10 billion by cutting waste and reforming the health service if in power, saying this could free up cash to spend on frontline care.
Labour’s shadow health spokesperson Wes Streeting in an interview with the Sun newspaper said the plan would ultimately result in more money for frontline services.
Streeting said that the party has been too nostalgic about the NHS in the past and has avoided any serious reform
“After 14 years of Conservative neglect of the NHS, we are paying more but getting less,” he will say in a speech on Tuesday, according to extracts released by Labour.
“I am focusing on waste because I want to give the public hope that the NHS can be saved. The money that is wasted today can be used to get the NHS back on its feet tomorrow. Only Labour has a plan to reform the NHS.”
Streeting says that it could save £3.5 billion by ending payments to recruitment agencies to cover staffing shortfalls, as well as a further £1.7 billion by freeing up hospital beds currently occupied by patients who can’t be sent home due to a lack of available care in the community.
He added that a further billion could be saved through bulk buying at a cheaper rate whilst other savings could include reducing management consultants
In interviews today Streting said that he was not convinced that the answerto the crisis we see is increasing the amounts of money into a service that is not working effectively
There has been much reaction to the interview
“The population is ageing and growing. It is getting sicker too as the effects of austerity bite. There are also rising costs in the NHS especially with medical equipment and many drugs. Of course the NHS needs more money. Wes Streeting doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” said Diane Abbott on X
