Labour’s public consultation on how to improve the NHS has spectacularly backfired just hours after it was launched this morning.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting wants to field the views of patients and staff about the future of the health service over the next ten years.
Yet the online consultation website, which immediately publishes all responses, has seen Brits flood the site with not-so-serious suggestions including Tony Blair as health chief and extending the right for free healthcare to all pets.
One even called for ‘mandatory euthansia to fill up hospital beds’ to ‘think of the savings’.
Another urged the health service to rent out empty seats in cinemas ‘so people can watch a film whilst they’re waiting to be seen’.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting wants to field the views of patients and staff about the future of the health service over the next ten years
Yet the online consultation website, which immediately publishes all responses, has seen Brits flood the site with not-so-serious suggestions including ‘mandatory euthanasia’ and free cinema tickets on the NHS
A third anonymous response even controversially claimed the NHS should enforce a maximum BMI for all nurses.
Announcing the consultation, Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘My mum worked for the NHS, my sister worked for the NHS, and my wife still works for the NHS.
‘So I know first-hand how difficult it has been for staff, and for patients battling against a broken system for over a decade. But it’s time to roll up our sleeves and fix it.’
Meanwhile, Mr Streeting said: ‘When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, the NHS saved my life, as it has for so many people across our country.
‘We all owe the NHS a debt of gratitude for a moment in our lives when it was there for us, when we needed it. Now we have a chance to repay that debt.’
But among the thousands of proposals submitted today included a ‘euthanasia idea’.
The anonymous respondent wrote: ‘I think this would go very well with Wes Streeting’s “Ozempic for Fatties” strategy.
‘In fact, what if the options were either 1) Take the Ozempic or 2) be “helped on your way” to free up precious NHS resources and save our beloved key workers.
Other suggestions published online today also called for Tony Blair as health chief and extending the right for free healthcare to all pets
‘There just isn’t the money to go around to let fatties and other selfish people take up hospital beds.’
Last week Mr Streeting revealed the government wants to use the jabs to boost the economy and get unemployed obese people back to work.
Weight-related illness costs the economy £74billion a year, with people who are overweight at increased risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.
Two in three Britons are classed as overweight or obese and NHS figures show people now weigh about a stone more than 30 years ago.
Another urged the NHS to consider ‘renting out empty seats in cinemas’ to help Brits’ mental health.
They said: ‘Cinemas need a boost — often empty post pandemic. We need hospital beds. People like films. People have mental health issues.’
A third response, meanwhile, controversially called for a ‘maximum BMI for nurses’.
They added: ‘They should be leading by example.’
One user also called for Sir Tony Blair to be appointed head of NHS England and Alan Milburn — former health secretary under Sir Tony — as his ‘Reform Czar’.
‘Sizeable salaries must follow’ they said.
Mr Milburn is widely expected to be offered an official position in the Department of Health, after months of attending meetings at NHS England and the department despite having no formal role, such as that of a minister or special adviser.
Multiple responses to the online consultation also called for the health service to stop spending millions a year on diversity officers and schemes.
Andrew Smith wrote: ‘Currently the NHS is spending between £13 and £40 million a year on diversity officers and associated “educational” activities.’
Others also demanded an end to free-at-the-point-of-use healthcare to non-Brits and those visiting from abroad.
One wrote: ‘We seem to be paying for an International Health Service where foreign nationals can fly into the UK to use NHS services free of charge’.
Other suggestions mooted anonymously included ‘incorporating Daleks into the NHS’
Announcing the consultation, Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘My mum worked for the NHS, my sister worked for the NHS, and my wife still works for the NHS. So I know first-hand how difficult it has been for staff, and for patients battling against a broken system for over a decade. But it’s time to roll up our sleeves and fix it’
On Sunday outlining the Government’s 10-year health plan, Mr Streeting stressed the importance of patients’ relationship with their GP, saying it was one of the things the Government wanted to protect along with free healthcare at the point of need and shorter waiting times for appointments.
In Opposition, the party pledged to build ‘an NHS fit for the future’, with a greater emphasis on preventing ill-health, shifting care from hospitals to community and harnessing the latest technology to improve care.
He said: ‘Our 10-year health plan will preserve the NHS’s traditional values in a modern setting.’
The plan is also expected to include greater roles for wearable technology to help people monitor their health and creating a single health record that patients can view through the NHS app.
But the health secretary also refused to rule out introducing fines for patients who miss NHS appointments.
While insisting it was not something he was considering now, he said he would be ‘more open-minded’ if it was still a problem in the future.