Top docs give dire warning about way forward for NHS if Tories win

Top doctors have warned patients are suffering because the Tories have plunged the NHS into crisis.

Labour today is setting out plans to end the 8am scramble for a GP appointment as the party accuses Rishi Sunak of giving up on the health service.

Dozens of senior medics have signed a letter demanding the decline in the number of doctors is “halted immediately to safeguard the NHS for future generations”. They include two former presidents of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Professor Mike Pringle and Professor Dame Clare Gerada, as well as former Royal College of Nursing boss Professor Dame Anne Marie Rafferty.

Other signatories include the comedian and former doctor Adam Kay, who wrote This Is Going To Hurt.

In the letter, they warn that the “NHS is in crisis” as it has “struggled to deliver the care it knows its patients need” over the past 14 years. “As health professionals working, or who have worked, in the NHS, we see the human impact of political failure,” they add.

“Patients are being denied treatment, left waiting in an emergency, or unable to see their doctor. With many people forced to seek private healthcare, the foundations of the NHS – a universal service, free at the point of use – are now under threat.”

A Labour analysis has found five million patients a month tried and failed to get a GP appointment last year. The party is promising to train thousands more doctors, as well as updating the NHS App so patients can easily book and rearrange appointments. It will also bring back the family doctor, so patients can see the same GP each appointment if they choose to.

Labour’s Wes Streeting accused Heath Secretary Victoria Atkins of being too busy preparing for a Tory leadership contest “to stop the strikes in the NHS, or even tell us what her plan is to get patients a GP appointment”. He said: “Rishi Sunak doesn’t understand how bad things are in the NHS, nor does he have a plan for the NHS, because he doesn’t use the NHS. Rishi Sunak isn’t waiting a month for a GP appointment, so he doesn’t care that you are.

The Shadow Health Secretary added: “The public will rightly conclude that nothing will change if the Conservatives get another five years, the chaos in the NHS will continue, and millions of patients will be left waiting a month just to see a GP. Labour will provide the investment and reform needed to get patients seen on time again and bring back the family doctor. In 2024, patients should not have to queue up at 8am on the phone to book an appointment, or worse still queue around the block.”