Keir Starmer vows to ‘reimagine’ the NHS – and desires your view

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to “reimagine” the NHS in a moment as significant as when the health service was founded in 1948.

Speaking at the launch of the “the biggest national conversation about the future of the NHS since its birth” the Prime Minister and Health Secretary Wes Streeting said they want the public’s ideas of how to keep people well and out of hospitals. They vowed to use “game changing” technologies of genomics and artificial intelligence to utilise patient records to predict and prevent illness.

And Sir Keir told of his anger at children having to turn up at hospitals to have rotting teeth removed. Speaking at the launch event at a health clinic in east London, the PM said: We want an NHS which is re-imagined, made fit for the future. We look back with great pride that a Labour government set up the NHS. What we want to achieve is a situation where we reimagine the NHS, make it fit for the future of where, in 10, 20, or 30 years people look back at what we did and say, that was the government… that made sure the NHS was for for the next 75 years. And we want you to be part of that.”

Mr Streeting said: “This moment is as important as the 1948 moment when that Labour government created the NHS – built the NHS for the 20th century. It’s now up to this Labor Government to rebuild our NHS for the 21st century.”

The change.nhs.live website went live on Monday morning as the Governments asked for views on a health service which has been weakened by a decade-long funding squeeze under the Tories. The input from patients as well as staff will inform its ten year plan which will bring about three big shifts in healthcare – hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.

Sir Keir said: “I will just give you one example that was absolutely etched in my mind. I went to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool and they were doing heart operations. A two year old was having a heart operation, a really brave little boy and his family. But in that same visit to the hospital I learnt that the biggest cause of admission to that hospital, and to all children’s hospitals, for six to 10 year olds, is children coming in to have their teeth taken out because they are decaying. Something that could have been prevented.

“I felt really angry on behalf of the NHS staff that they were being asked to do operations which didn’t really need to be done if somebody had stepped in earlier. I was genuinely, really, really shocked to see these brilliant NHS staff having to spend their time pulling children’s teeth out. Very, very good NHS staff using their skills to take teeth out instead of doing other things.”

The Mirror has launched the Dentists for All campaign after access for new patients an an NHS dentist all but dried up. The Government has vowed to recruit more dentists, reform the hated dental payment contract and introduce supervised tooth brushing in schools.

The consultation is part of the Government’s plans to transform the NHS into a “neighbourhood health service”, shifting some testing and treatments from hospitals to GPs, pharmacies and community clinics. The plan will also see greater use of data and technology, with easier sharing of patient data, saving an estimated 140,000 hours of staff time every year. The consultation applies only to England. The UK Government has responsibility for the NHS in England while in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland it is the responsibility of devolved governments.

The Prime Minister said the reformed NHS could make better use of genomic testing to predict who will get certain diseases to diagnose and treat them earlier. He also said increased use of AI could help interpret scans and speed up diagnoses. Sir Keir said: “I think AI is absolutely huge and this is going to be a game changer in a short number of years.”

Speaking at the London Ambulance Service Dockside Centre, Mr Streeting said: “The NHS is going through what is objectively the worst crisis in its history, whether it’s people struggling to get access to their GP, dialling 999 and an ambulance not arriving in time, turning up to A&E departments and waiting far too long… or receiving a prognosis that amounts to a death sentence that could have been avoided because the NHS didn’t reach you in time. That is, I’m afraid, a daily reality in the NHS today.”

Ministers are keen on suggestions that will “shift the NHS away from late diagnosis and treatment to a model where more services are delivered in local communities and illnesses are prevented in the first place”.

Mr Streeting added: “When we launch our ten year plan for the future of our NHS we want you to feel like this is your plan, that your fingerprints are on it, whether you are a patient that relies on the NHS or whether you’re a member of staff that uses it.”

The 10-year plan, expected to be published in spring 2025, will be preceded by a crucial autumn Budget next week. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting have said there can be “no investment without reform” of the NHS but it is unclear how committed the Government is to restoring funding to its pre-austerity era historic average.

The annual rate of NHS funding rises – to keep pace with the ageing population – slowed from almost 6% under New Labour to only 2% under the Conservatives, according to an analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The annual rise average since the NHS was founded is around 4% which is still low by European standards.

The Lib Dems urged the Government to be bold, warned the consultation risks becoming a talking shop and criticised the lack of plans to rescue social care. Lib Dem health spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said: “It is not good enough for the government to kick the can down the road yet again. We need to begin cross-party talks immediately to get social care on a long-term sustainable footing. You cannot fix the crisis in the NHS without fixing social care.”

Click HERE to have your say on the future of the NHS.