Healthcare leaders demand ‘radical change’ from Labour government

Those representing health and social care systems have today laid out some of the key priorities for the new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, and his party, as the crisis across the two sectors continues to bite.

“We hope that the incoming government will grasp the nettle and put social care reform at the heart of their ambition”

Kathryn Smith

It comes as the Labour Party won by a landslide in the general election yesterday, returning to power after 14 years of Conservative Party rule.

The party, which won a total of 412 seats, made many pledges on health and social care during the election campaign to win the race.

Now, leaders from across the health and social care sectors are looking to Sir Keir and his new government to implement them.

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of the King’s Fund think tank, said it was a “moment of great opportunity” to deliver “radical change” in the NHS.

She said: “We need to support more care to be delivered out of hospital settings, in the community, primary care, social care.

“We need to support our workforce to thrive and we need to tackle the worst health outcomes and embrace prevention,” she noted.

Labour’s manifesto placed great emphasis on moving healthcare out of the hospital where possible, including shifting resources to primary care and community services.

The party has also pledged to reduce waiting lists, promising two million additional NHS appointments every year, as well as guaranteeing face-to-face GP appointments for everyone who requests one.

Chief among its pledges were major reforms to social care, including “a programme of reform to create a National Care Service” and enshrining a “home first” principal to health and social care.

Responding to the election, the chief executive of Care England, Professor Martin Green, said: “With a new government comes a fresh start and the opportunity for a new narrative around adult social care.

“Our adult social care system is a vital part of our national infrastructure,” he said. “It supports people to confidently and independently to live the lives they choose and plays a key role in supporting our health system and wider economy.

“After the failure of successive governments to ‘fix social care once and for all’, the new administration must invest in and reform our sector as an urgent priority,” said Professor Martin.

This was echoed by the chief executive of the National Care Forum, Vic Rayner, who said the new government had a “once in a generation opportunity” to bring real change to all those who depend on social care.

“We urge the government to seize this opportunity and we reiterate our readiness to support them with the work that will be required to develop and deliver their manifesto commitments,” she said.

“The new government and unions must make bringing disruptive strikes to a halt a priority”

Saffron Cordery

A roadmap for a National Care Service in England, published last year, outlined how the NHS and adult social care services would remain separate but through interconnected services.

Local government would lead the delivery of the service, with councils continuing to work with independent providers, who would face stronger rules and requirements.

Professor Rayner said that building a National Care Service and implementing a fair pay agreement for care workers, as set out in the Labour manifesto, were “long-term propositions”.

In addition, she said a dedicated and funded workforce strategy for social care would “be essential” to ensure care workers were better valued and could pursue training and development opportunities.

Kathryn Smith, chief executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, said nothing was more important than “securing a sustainable social care system” that placed it “on an equal footing with the NHS”.

“We hope that the incoming government will grasp the nettle and put social care reform at the heart of their ambition,” she noted.

“A social care system fit for the 21st century is in the national interest and the formidable challenges facing the social care sector cannot be a justification for inaction.

She added: “The cornerstone of future policy change ought to be co-producing solutions with people with lived experience, their families and carers, as well as care providers.”

The new Labour government has also been urged to have focus on the ongoing challenges facing nurse recruitment and nursing education.

The chief executive of the Council of Deans of Health, Ed Hughes, said the mandate given to the Labour Party this week had given the government “the potential to be truly transformative”.

Mr Hughes called for the new government to urgently address the growing shortfall in healthcare educators and researchers, as well as boost healthcare student recruitment and retention as a priority.

In addition, he urged for the government to review the overlapping layers of regulation facing healthcare education, and expand and diversify the placements needed for a growth in healthcare students.

“The challenges higher education faces will have a direct impact on the future of the domestically educated NHS workforce, so we stand ready to work with the new government to address these,” noted Mr Hughes.

“The Council of Deans of Health and our member institutions are ready and willing to support the prime minister and his ministerial colleagues as they seek to deliver the agenda for change they were elected on.”

As the Labour Party prepares for the mammoth task ahead, industrial action in the NHS continues to cause disruption for staff and patients alike.

The party manifesto had promised to “reset relations with NHS staff” in order to stop treatment being impacted by strikes.

It comes as NHS England published new data today which revealed that five-day action by junior doctors last month saw 61,989 inpatient and outpatient appointments rescheduled, with 23,001 staff absent from work due to strikes at the peak of the action.

In response to the figures, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Saffron Cordery, said “it just can’t carry on like this”.

“The new government and unions must make bringing disruptive strikes to a halt a priority and act immediately to find a way to resolve the long-running junior doctors’ dispute,” she said.

“The next government must reset the relationship with NHS employees so that leaders of hospital, mental health, community health and ambulance trusts can put all of their time and energy into cutting waiting times and looking after patients instead of dealing with industrial action.”

More to follow….