Cancer patient Denise Clarke, 60, praised Rachel Reeves’s pledge to bring down NHS waiting lists.
Denise, from Lewisham, South London, has been reliant on the health service after being diagnosed with kidney cancer in August 2023. The mother-of-four had to quit her Asda supermarket job as a consequence and is now reliant on Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment handouts.
Denise said: “I think it’s a fair budget under difficult circumstances. Money in the NHS and schools is vital because the situation is just dire, and health and education really matters. Putting up tobacco, soft drink taxes and vaping taxes doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
(
Philip Coburn)
“Ideally, I would want her to have gone further to help people on benefits. For me, there’s nothing left after gas, electric, council tax and water bills. But I do have some sympathy because there’s just not enough money to go around because of this £22bn black hole.”
Denise, who is being treated at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospitals, underwent an operation to remove cancerous tissue in May. But she was given a follow-up appointment next March. She also needs another scan but is still waiting for a date.
(
Philip Coburn)
Denise welcomed the Chancellor’s £25bn cash injection in the NHS and a promise to deliver an extra 40,000 elective appointments per week She added: “I’ve seen how bad things are in the NHS first hand.
“The care has always been brilliant but the doctors and nurses are rushed off their feet. They are absolutely overworked. So I welcome them making the NHS a priority.”