Starmer: We’ll fix the NHS
KEIR Starmer has vowed to fix the NHS by using technology.
The Labour leader said “science and technology” was the “game changer” and “light at the end of the tunnel”.
He vowed to expand the NHS app and to use AI to “change the nature of healthcare”, pointing to how it could be used to diagnose lung cancer, known as a “silent killer”.
In a speech launching Labour’s health policies he also committed to making sure ambulances respond to cardiac arrest callouts within seven minutes and restoring the target of 95% of all A&E patients being seen within four hours.
Pledges for if they get into power included clear targets on reducing cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes, by 25% within a decade and ensuring 75% of all cancer is diagnosed at stages one and two.
LOTTERY
In Mr Starmer’s speech, he said a “cruel lottery of who lives and who dies” exists in Britain despite the NHS being founded to offer care for all.
Children will be taught about mental health in schools in a plan to bring down suicide rates and “revolutionise mental health treatment”.
He committed to 8,500 new mental health professionals, specialist access in every school and guaranteed treatment within four weeks.
Vowing to change advertising rules after a surge in vaping among youngsters, Mr Starmer added: “We will change advertising rules and we will make sure that products which are harmful to our children’s health – vaping, junk food, sugary snacks – cannot be advertised to our children.”
The MP for Holborn and St Pancras said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “We have to include social media of course. I’ve got teenage children so I know very well where they get their information.”
NHS figures for 2021 showed that 9% of 11 to 15-year-old children used e-cigarettes, up from 6% in 2018.
The Government is currently undertaking a review into children and non-smokers’ vape habits but is yet to introduce any measures.
Mr Starmer, 60, ruled out imposing a salt and sugar tax during the cost of living crisis, but refused to be drawn on whether he would consider a levy should economic pressures ease.
Mr Starmer also told the audience during a visit to an East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust station in Braintree, Essex, the Tories have accepted the NHS “as part of the political furniture, in their heart of hearts they don’t believe in its central promise”. He added: “For them it’s a cost, not a cause, from that mindset springs the well of their neglect.”