Keir Starmer says NHS cannot develop into ‘nationwide cash pit’ as he units out plan to slash backlog
Keir Starmer has said the NHS can’t become a “national money pit” as he unveiled plans to slash the number of Brits languishing on waiting lists.
In his first speech of 2025, the Prime Minister said the NHS needed to be reformed “from top to bottom” and warned that working people “can’t be expected to subsidise the current levels of care with ever rising taxes”. He added: “That is the price of ducking reform. I won’t stand for it. I believe in public service, I believe in the NHS. I’ll fight for it day and night.”
Mr Starmer also hit back at the doubters who question whether Labour can pull it off, saying they are “wallowing in a fatalism about about the potential of this country”.
Unveiling the reforms at Epsom Hospital, Surrey, he said: “2025 is about rebuilding Britain and rebuilding our NHS is the cornerstone of that.” It comes as Mr Starmer sought to get on the front foot after days of abuse from tech billionaire Elon Musk over the Government’s handling of the grooming gangs scandal.
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Mr Starmer used his first speech of the year to unveil plans to tackle the mammoth NHS backlog, which stands at around 7.5 million. In the recent “Plan for Change”, he pledged that 92% of patients will be seen within 18 weeks for pre-planned care such as hip and knee replacements by 2029.
Today’s announcement is a first step, with 65% of patients will receive planned treatment in the target timeframe by the end of next year – amounting to around 450,000 people. Under the blueprint, patients will be able to book more tests and scans after work and at weekends to slash waits for elective treatment and free up appointments.
Community diagnostic centres will be ordered to open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, so more people can get procedures such as scans and endoscopies. Ministers hope this will deliver up to half a million extra appointments a year.
GPs will be able to refer patients directly to these centres without a prior consultation with a hospital consultant, to slash waits for treatment.
More surgical hubs will also be created so common treatments, such as cataract surgeries, can be done outside of hospital theatres – meaning they are less likely to be postponed. Patients will be given more choice over non-essential follow ups, alongside better use of the NHS App to free up around one million appointments a year.
The NHS has also signed a new deal with the independent sector so people can get quicker treatment in private hospitals. Under the agreement, women on gynaecological waiting lists and orthopaedics patients are among those who will be offered free procedures in private facilities.
In gynaecology, there is currently a backlog of 260,000 women waiting more than 18 weeks for treatments, while in orthopaedics more than 40% of patients are waiting longer than the 18-week target.
Mr Starmer said the NHS must be “hungry for innovation” and warned it cannot become a “national money pit”. He said: “Productivity can’t (be) 11% lower than it was before the pandemic.
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“Working people can’t be expected to subsidise the current levels of care with ever-rising taxes. That is the price of ducking reform, and I won’t stand for it. I believe in public service. I believe in the NHS. I’ll fight for it day and night. I’ll never stand for that.”
He went on: “We will, of course, protect the principles we all cherish – that you will work to every day – care free at the point of use, treatment according to need, key principles.
“But to catapult the service into the future, we need an NHS that is reformed from top to bottom, millions of extra appointments signed, sealed and delivered with the plan that we are launching here today.”
Mr Starmer said the NHS must be more convenient for patients or risk being left behind. He said: “Just think about it – every day, just a few swipes of their phone, millions of people buy food or clothes for themselves and their family, they book holidays, they even find love.
“There is no reason, no good reason, why a public, free-at-the-point-of-use NHS can’t deliver that kind of convenience. In fact, it must.”
