Streeting hits out at ‘middle-class Lefties’ opposing NHS reforms

WES STREETING has criticised “middle-class Lefties” who are opposed to Labour’s plans for NHS reform.

The shadow health secretary said his party would make use of the private healthcare sector to reduce NHS waiting lists in a move he conceded would prompt cries of “betrayal” from some quarters. Mr Streeting has previously warned the health service will go bankrupt without reform and that it would be wasteful to keep pouring money into a system that is not working.

In an article for The Sun, he said: “We will also use spare capacity in the private sector to cut the waiting lists.

“Middle-class lefties cry ‘betrayal’. The real betrayal is the two-tier system that sees people like them treated faster – while working families like mine are left waiting for longer.”

Mr Streeting argued that the NHS must be “a service, not a shrine” and promised it would not receive any additional funding without “major surgery” to the way that it works under Labour.

“It’s a 20th century service that hasn’t changed with the times and isn’t fit for the modern era,” he added.

“It catches illness too late, which means worse care for patients at greater cost to the taxpayer … This can’t go on.”

He said the first suite of Labour’s reforms to the health service would focus on using artificial intelligence in every hospital, while expanding the NHS app to give greater choice to patients. Mr Streeting also vowed to reduce bureaucracy, noting GPS are measured by 55 targets and too much time is taken up filling in forms.

Warning reform would “not be easy” but insisting he was “up for the fight”, he concluded: “The NHS saved my life when I had kidney cancer and now I’m determined to save our NHS.”

The MP for Ilford North took time off work in 2021 after his diagnosis aged 38.

He has accused Rishi Sunak of making cancer patients “pay the price” by failing to resolve recent junior doctors’ strikes, while also blaming the Prime Minister for record NHS waiting lists and extended ambulance waiting times.

During his broadcast round yesterday, Mr Streeting criticised Left-wingers in his own party for their “howls of outrage” in response to his ambitions to make greater use of the private sector.

He told the BBC: “As the howls of outrage pour in... I kind of take it as water off a duck’s back.

“Because I don’t think I could look someone in the eye who is waiting for months and months, sometimes over a year, in pain and agony for treatment, I couldn’t look that person in the eye and tell them that they should wait longer because my principles trump their timely access to care.”

Sir – The senior figures in the NHS complaining about possible reductions in the level of service from Royal Mail (Letters, April 6) have merely drawn attention to their own organisation’s failings.

Email communication has been in common use for more than 30 years. Of course patients who don’t use it need to be sent letters about appointments, but they are in the minority, even among older age groups more likely to require the services of the NHS.

It was pathetic to hear one person representing the NHS, when asked in a radio interview on Saturday to defend the slow introduction of digital communication, protest that the health service had moved quickly to adopt new technology after Covid restrictions forced it to. Is it not just as urgent to stop wasting huge sums on postage, improve the experience of patients and cut down on missed appointments by using email to notify those who are willing to be contacted this way? The whole story has highlighted, once again, the need for the NHS to be more efficient in how it spends the vast amounts of money it already has – before it (or any politician) claims it needs more. James Little

Epsom, Surrey

Sir – My wife and I, with respective ages of 91 and 87, are certainly not computer whizz-kids, but we have been registered with the NHS Patients Know Best service for more than two years. We receive notice of hospital appointments, cancellations and rescheduled appointments. As the dates get close, we often also receive reminders. I presume this service is available to everyone. John Bate

Ashby-de-la-zouch, Leicestershire

Sir – Recent letters (April 8) appear to suggest that all electronic communication is trouble-free.

I live in a rural area in the shadow of the Mendip Hills; my GP surgery in Weston-super-mare is a 15-minute drive away. It is not unusual for me to attend an appointment on a Monday, then receive a reminder for that appointment on my phone the following Friday. Last week, prescription information required in the afternoon arrived late in the evening.

If the system can be relied upon, fine – it should be used. But a system that is unreliable is next to useless. Heather Erridge

Bleadon, Somerset

Sir – I have tried at least three times to arrange for my correspondence from Royal United Hospitals Bath to be sent to me exclusively by email, but to no avail.

I get letters by post, sometimes duplicated and often too late or with appalling grammar – as well as by email. Maureen Holtum

Bathampton, Somerset