Labour will get new technologies into the NHS faster and make it
easier to develop new medicines in Britain, as part of the
party’s mission to help Brits live healthier lives for longer.
launched Labour’s mission to
make the NHS fit for the future today, making new announcements
on plans to buy cutting-edge tech for the NHS and boost the
number of clinical trials.
Promising to transform the NHS from an analogue to a digital
service, the Labour leader said the NHS app will host digital
patient records. Patients will be able to use the app to book
appointments, order repeat prescriptions, and receive reminders
to go for check-ups.
The party is promising more centralised procurement in the health
service, so innovators have a clear route to sell their products,
rather than having to strike agreements with all 227 NHS trusts.
Unnecessary red tape which delays new medicines becoming
available to patients will also be cut.
, Leader of the Labour Party,
said:
“You can’t ignore the fact the world has changed - that’s denying
the evidence before our eyes. The British people are living
longer - life expectancy in 1948 was 68, today it’s over 81.
That’s a good thing, but it brings new challenges.
“The nature of disease is different - instead of urgent and acute
hospital care, now it’s more about managing chronic, long-term
conditions. The wonder of science has taught us, with ever
increasing clarity that our health depends on how we live.
“Mental health has stepped out from the shadows - and thank
goodness. And with artificial intelligence, with personalised
medicine, with new vaccines, we stand on the cusp of a revolution
that could transform healthcare for the better.
“My message today is this - science and technology are the
game-changers.”
Labour is also pledging to put Britain at the front of the queue
for new medicines. It has published a plan to get more clinical
trials up and running in the NHS by cutting bureaucracy to make
it easier and quicker to conduct life-saving research in the NHS,
and allowing the public to sign up through the NHS app. The
number of trials has collapsed in recent years, costing the NHS
£450 million in revenue. 550,000 volunteers signed up to the
vaccine clinical trials registry during the pandemic, but the
government is introducing a bureaucratic three-stage
reapplication process just to stay on the registry, which Kate
Bingham heavily criticised.
Speaking to Labour’s pledge to increase clinical trials, said:
“Innovators need one route into the NHS not many incentives to
innovate throughout the system, fewer barriers to adoption, fewer
hurdles to clear, less bureaucracy, more clinical trials, and a
government that uses its full power to back our world leading
life sciences.”
also highlighted the grotesque
health inequalities in Britain today, which see a baby girl born
in Blackpool expected to fall into ill-health 12 years earlier
than one born in Winchester. By shifting the focus on the health
service from sickness to prevention and tackling the drivers of
ill-health, the next Labour government will help everyone to live
well for longer and halve the gap in healthy life expectancy
between regions.
“We will improve healthy life expectancy for all and we’ll halve
the inequality gap between different regions of England. Let me
explain what that means. It means we will restart a trend Britain
had come to take for granted. That, to be blunt, we should take
for granted.
“A sign of progress - that generation after generation, the
people of this country are living healthier lives, happier lives,
longer lives. The Tories have reversed that - that’s their
legacy.
“And look - by focusing on health inequalities, we can make
Britain fairer as well”
Ends
Notes
Labour’s Health Mission: https://labour.org.uk/missions/building-an-nhs-fit-for-the-future/
Labour’s third mission in government will be to: Build an NHS fit
for the future: that is there when people need it; with fewer
lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where
everyone lives well for longer.
The mission includes several measurable goals, including:
- An NHS that is there when people need it
· Ensure ambulances get to
people in time to save lives
· Get people seen by a GP
when they need
· Stop people facing
dangerously long waits in A&E
· Guarantee shorter waits for
hospital appointments when people need specialist care
- Fewer lives lost to the biggest killers
· Improve cancer survival
rates by hitting all NHS cancer waiting time and early diagnosis
targets within five years
· Reduce deaths from heart
disease and stroke by a quarter within ten years
· Reverse the rising trend in
the rate of lives lost to suicide so they are declining within
five years
- A fairer Britain where everyone lives well for longer
· Improve healthy life
expectancy for all and halve the gap in healthy life expectancy
between different regions of England
