‘The NHS rescue plan is not all new – however with correct funding it may simply work’

The NHS is “broken” after a decade-long funding squeeze and it’s going to have to be changed to fix it.

That is the message coming loud and clear from the Labour government as it insists it must do more than make the NHS work a bit better for it to survive.

A few of its main proposals have been ambitions for the NHS under the previous government but – without the necessary financial resources – were never realised. They include plans to set up a single patient record, summarising patient health information, test results, and letters in one place, through the NHS App.

Many patients are shocked when they realise one part of the NHS will not know that another part of the NHS has previously diagnosed you as being allergic to a certain drug, or that you have a prior history of a certain condition. Shockingly, the NHS still relies on you remembering your medical information, understanding what part of your medical history may be relevant, and relaying it to the doctor trying to diagnose or treat you. It also means filling out multiple tick box forms and hoping that none of these crucial bits of information gets missed. And it takes up a lot of medics’ time – a single patient record will save NHS staff an estimated 140,000 hours every year.

Another aspiration has been for some time to take NHS care closer to where people live. That means nipping problems in the bud with a GP appointment or diagnosing something early with a quick check at a local community centre.

But the reality of starving the NHS of vital funds for over a decade has meant finite resources were inevitably diverted to the most life-saving aspects of the service – A&E and hospital care. The irony of that is this short-term prioritisation has only placed more pressure on these hospital services as more and more people fall sick and need them. This has led to accusations from those ideologically opposed to the principles of the NHS that it is a bottomless money pit and should be scrapped.

It falls to Labour again to renew the NHS and stop these false economies defining the narrative. It’s time to tell them what is important to you – whether that’s seeing the same family doctor, getting an NHS appointment or being able to see your health record on your mobile phone.

The NHS can be a driver for the health and happiness of the nation once again but now, the Government insists, is a time to take stock and decide in what form it should continue.

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”.

The elephant in the room is funding. 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.

Time will tell whether the Government puts its money where its mouth is.