Analysis: what each political party is pledging for nurses

The Labour Party’s Keir Starmer is, by the majority of pollsters, the front runner to win the general election, while incumbent prime minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party is expected to lose dozens of seats and enter opposition for the first time since 2010.

Meanwhile, groups like the Green Party, Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats are also predicted to gain seats and, as a result, potentially either form part of a government or be influential from within parliament’s opposition benches.

With all party manifestos now published, and the election drawing close, Nursing Times has analysed pledges for nursing from nine major political parties in contention for seats.

These also include parties which are only fielding MP candidates in the devolved nations such as the Scottish National Party (SNP) in Scotland, Plaid Cymru in Wales and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland.

Pay for NHS staff

Nurses and the unions representing them will be demanding a new pay deal for NHS staff following industrial action last year and this year.

However, some parties have been more explicit than others in what they are offering.

Conservatives: No specific mention of pay for any NHS staff group.

DUP: Pledged to “engage in discussions” with the UK Government about public sector pay in general and campaign for funding to get “decent pay awards”, including for nurses. 

Green Party: MPs would campaign for an “immediate boost” to NHS staff pay to boost retention and recruitment, for the restoration of junior doctors pay and for a pay rise for social care workers. They pledged to “treat and pay” nurses fairly.

Labour: No specific mention of pay for any NHS staff group but promised to “reset” relations with NHS staff, in a section regarding strikes over pay.

Liberal Democrats: Promised to establish a “properly independent pay review body” to replace the existing NHS Pay Review Body, which negotiates pay for staff on Agenda for Change contracts.

Plaid Cymru: Plaid said pay restoration for NHS staff should be “implemented as soon as possible”, though did not outline specifically what this would look like.

Reform: No specific mention of a pay deal for NHS staff, but the Reform manifesto promised to abolish the base income tax rate for health and social care staff for three years.

Sinn Féin: No specific mention of future Health and Social Care (HSC) pay deals.

SNP: Would lobby the UK Government to increase investment in NHS England staff pay to match pay deals negotiated in Scotland, and to use the additional money to improve pay in Scotland itself.

Nurse and midwife training and education

A huge part of last year’s NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, training and education has become a hot political topic.

Parties have varied in their approaches to prioritising university degrees versus apprenticeships and other routes into the professions.

Conservatives: Reiterated a backing of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which includes targets of training NHS staff including nurses and midwives.

DUP: No mention of university nurse training, but a promise to “explore” the potential introduction of a ‘nursing higher level apprenticeship framework’.

Further, a pledge to replace the current apprenticeship levy, which is used to fund nursing apprenticeships, with a new system. It also said it would make it easier for international students qualifying in primary care roles to gain permanent residence.

Green Party: No specific mention of nurse training or education, but a pledge to scrap tuition fees for undergraduate university courses. It also said it would push for an “immediate and additional increase to the budgets for NHS staff costs”.

Labour: No specific mention of nurse training or education. Pledged to reform the apprenticeship levy to be more “flexible” and backed the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which includes targets of training NHS staff including nurses and midwives.

Further, the party pledged to create a “fair pay agreement” in adult social care which will cover training, and to train an additional 8,500 mental health staff.

Liberal Democrats: No detailed plans related to nurse education or training, but a pledge to replace the apprenticeship levy with a “broader and more flexible” one.

Plaid Cymru: No specific mention of nurse education or training, but pledged to increase the “availability” of degree apprenticeships across healthcare and to “work with universities” to develop a plan to make free university tuition “financially viable”.

Reform: Pledge to extend university student loan repayment periods to 45 years before they are forgotten – but write them off after 10 years of NHS service for all “doctors, nurses and medical staff”.

Promised to implement a tax relief for businesses which offer apprenticeships.

Sinn Féin: No specific mention of nurse education or training.

SNP: No specific mention of nurse education or training, but pledged to “defend” free university tuition fees in Scotland.

Funding for the NHS

One of the cornerstone issues for any political party competing for votes in a general election is how the issue of NHS funding is tackled.

Some parties have given specific figures they say will be enough to address the health service’s financial difficulties, and how these will be costed.

Conservatives: Pledged to increase NHS spending “above inflation” every year, but also to cut national insurance by an additional 2p. The party emphasised improving efficiency and productivity to avoid “wasting” money, including cutting the number of NHS managers.

DUP: A pledge to improve funding for Northern Ireland’s health service, ensuring that funding from Westminster does not drop below £124 for the devolved nation for every £100 spent in England. Also promised to campaign for the baseline funding for Northern Ireland to be increased by the same amount above need as Wales.

Green Party: Pledged to push for increasing health and social care funding by £8bn in the next full parliament year, rising to £28bn by 2030. As well as an additional £20bn in capital spending over five years for NHS estates, £1.5bn extra annually for primary care by 2030, £20bn for social care and £3bn additional annually by 2030 for NHS dentistry. This would be paid for by increasing taxes on the ultra-wealthy.

Labour: No specific figure for funding totals, but any investment to be paid for through £5.2bn gained by closing the ‘non-dom’ tax loophole, £565m from the carried interest tax loophole and £1.5bn from applying VAT and business rates to private schools.

Liberal Democrats: A promise to reverse cuts to taxes and close tax loopholes to fund its plans for the NHS, though did not specify exact figures.

Plaid Cymru: Pledged to ensure the NHS is “properly funded” by a “needs-based funding model for Wales”.

Reform: Stated it would spend around £17bn on NHS pledges and pledged to cut “waste” to find other areas of the NHS. Savings would come from reviewing private finance contracts, removing “unnecessary managers”, charging those who fail to attend medical appointments without notice and abolishing the NHS Race and Health Observatory.

Sinn Féin: No specific pledges on funding the health service, but pledged to improve Northern Ireland’s funding deal from the UK Government.

SNP: Pledged to end austerity and increase NHS England spending by £10bn each year. For NHS Scotland, the party pledged to increase funding by £1bn each year and pay for this by re-evaluating the way Barnett consequential are distributed.

Maternity care and leave

Despite several high-profile maternity scandals in recent years and calls to improve workers’ rights in maternity leave, maternity has not featured in all of the manifesto.

Conservatives: Pledged to bring forward a maternity care strategy, additional funding for maternal safety and improvements to support for mothers in postnatal appointments. Further pledges of investigations into maternity care disparities and widening access to women’s health hubs.

DUP: No maternity pledges in the manifesto.

Green Party: No maternity pledges in the manifesto.

Labour: Promised to ensure NHS trusts failing on maternity care are “robustly supported” to make improvements. Further, a promise to improve worker protections from maternity and menopause discrimination, which will impact the largely female nursing and midwifery workforce.

Liberal Democrats: Pledged to “transform” perinatal mental health support for pregnant mothers and those who have experienced a stillbirth or miscarriage. On maternity and paternity rights, pledged to double statutory maternity and shared parental pay and an additional month for fathers and partners, paid at 90% of earnings.

Plaid Cymru: No maternity pledges in the manifesto.

Reform: No maternity pledges in the manifesto.

Sinn Féin: No maternity pledges in the manifesto.

SNP: Increase paid maternity leave to one year and raise the pay for the first 12 weeks. No pledges on maternity care itself.

Retention, recruitment and the nursing workforce

Outside of pay, the issues of retention and recruitment have been greatly emphasised in recent industrial action. Matters such as working hours, conditions and progression are all part of this.

Conservatives: Pledged to “improve working conditions” for all NHS staff and continue to commit to the long-term workforce plan.

DUP: No specific mention of nurse recruitment, retention or working conditions, but the party made pledges on nursing staff pay.

Green Party: No specific targets for recruitment were given and retention was only mentioned in a section on improving healthcare worker pay.

Labour: A pledge to deliver the long-term workforce plan, which has existing targets on nursing and midwifery staff retention and recruitment.

Liberal Democrats: Promised to create a 10-year retention plan with flexible working as a “day-one right” for all NHS staff, encourage the use of flexible staff banks instead of spending money on agency workers and exempt NHS and care staff from the £1,000 a year immigration skills charge.

Plaid Cymru: Pledged to recruit more nurses.

Reform: Claimed its plan to abolish the basic income tax rate for NHS and social care staff and write off tuition fees after 10 years of NHS service would attract staff who had left, back into the service. No other mentions of working conditions or retention were made.

Sinn Féin: No specific mention of nurse recruitment, retention or working conditions for nursing staff.

SNP: No specific mention of nurse recruitment, retention or working conditions – however, these issues were touched on relating to improving pay for NHS staff.

NHS privatisation

Outside of funding for the NHS itself, privatisation is perhaps the most contentious and spoken-about issues relating to the health service.

While most parties have committed to retaining free at the point of use healthcare, and a few have a firm anti-privatisation stance, some are suggesting the capacity and existence of a private healthcare sector is embraced – not cut out.

Conservatives: A pledge to “grow opportunities” for providers, including those in the private sector, to offer free health and social care services to patients.

DUP: No mention of health service privatisation, but a suggestion to use “large-scale partnerships” between HSC and “national independent providers” for reducing waiting lists.

Green Party: A commitment to a “fully public health service and to keeping the profit motive well away from our NHS”.

Labour: Pledged to ensure the NHS would “always be publicly owned and funded”, but said it would “use spare capacity in the independent sector” to bring down waiting lists.

Liberal Democrats: No mention of health service privatisation. However, it did flag the importance of “a strong NHS – open to all, regardless of wealth”.

Plaid Cymru: Pledged to oppose privatisation, including that which happens “by stealth through out-sourcing”.

Reform: Tax relief of 20% on private healthcare and insurance, a voucher for private treatment for those who face delays seeing a GP, consultant or attending surgery – and a pledge to use “independent and not-for-profit” health provision capacity to ease the NHS burden.

Sinn Féin: No mention of health service privatisation.

SNP: Promised to protect the NHS from “Westminster privatisation” through a bill, and a demand to keep further privatisation “ruled out”.

NHS infrastructure and digitisation

Digitisation has been a hot topic for the nursing profession in recent years, with calls to improve IT systems and infrastructure accompanying the existing debates over how best to expand the NHS estate in general.

Conservatives: Reiterated a commitment to deliver the New Hospitals Programme to build 40 new hospitals in England by 2030, invest £3.4bn into “new technology” for the health service, use artificial intelligence (AI)  to “free up” doctors and nurses and further invest in the NHS App.

DUP: No specific pledges for infrastructure or digitisation.

Green Party: Invest £20bn across the next parliament for “hospital building and repair”, and £2bn for capital investments in primary care. No mention of digitisation.

Labour: Promised to double the number of CT and MRI scanners, deliver the New Hospitals Programme, speed up regulatory approval of new technology and digitise the children’s health ‘red book’. Further, pledged to “transform” the NHS app and increase its functionality.

Liberal Democrats: Pledged to “fix crumbling hospitals” and primary care estate buildings with a 10-year investment plan, issue ring-fenced budgets to bring in new digital tools and fix existing digital infrastructure including fixing old computers and improving electronic patient records. Also promised to expand virtual wards to “free up” staff time.

Plaid Cymru: No specific pledges for infrastructure or digitisation.

Reform: No specific pledges for infrastructure or digitisation.

Sinn Féin: No specific pledges for infrastructure or digitisation.

SNP: No specific pledges for NHS infrastructure, but specified new “fiscal rules” to improve investment in public sector assets in general and a fund to bring in new funds to take action over buildings impacted by the Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) issue.

Social care

A crisis in social care, driving delayed discharges from hospital among other issues, exists in the UK. Parties have heavily differed in their approaches to tackling it.

Conservatives: Promised to given a new multi-year funding settlement to local authorities and to cap social care costs from October 2025.  

DUP: No specific pledges on social care.

Green Party: Pledged to implement free personal care, increase pay and career progression for social care workers and invest £20bn per year.

Labour: Promised to “undertake a programme of reform to create” an National Care Service, create a “fair pay agreement” for adult social care and improve hospital discharges with local partnership working between health and social care.

Liberal Democrats: Pledged to create a social care workforce plan and make careers in the sector more attractive, as well as implement free personal care and implement a cross-party commission on “sustainable funding”.

Plaid Cymru: Ensure social care is “free at the point of use” and “end the distinction” between health and social care. Pledged to pay all social care workers at least £1 above the real living wage, relax visa rules on care staff and support multi-annual funding settlement for care providers.

Reform: Pledged to set up an inquiry into the social care system, give incentives and tax breaks to providers and fund social care through a single system – instead of a split between the NHS and local authorities.

Further, pledged to give more funding once a “national plan” is created.

Sinn Féin: No specific pledges on social care.

SNP: No specific pledges on social care.