PM vows to rescue 4.7m patients

BORIS JOHNSON is to put the NHS at the centre of this week’s Queen’s Speech by introducing legislation to help repair the damage caused by the pandemic.

The Prime Minister i s planning to empower the health service to ‘innovate and embrace technology’ to try to reduce the crippling backlog of 4.7 million patients whose treatment has been delayed.

The State Opening of Parliament on Tuesday will also see the publication of Bills to boost the economy and tackle crime and climate change.

As the vaccine rollout continues, Mr Johnson is expected to direct more of the Government’s efforts towards tackling the backlogs and improving patient care, in what sources describe as the ‘huge challenge’ to ‘restore and rebuild our most cherished public service’.

Ministers have committed a total of £ 92 billion extra for the NHS to deal with Covid, with £63 billion this year and £29 billion for next year.

A No 10 source said: ‘We have to be honest about the damage done to the NHS by coronavirus and the scale of the challenge ahead. Now more than ever the NHS is the Government’s priority – and recovery of patient services is at the heart of that.’

A number of Bills will be carried over to complete their passage in the next Commons session, including the Environment Bill, which sets legally binding environmental targets, ahead of the international COP26 Summit in Glasgow later this year.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will overhaul sentencing to keep serious sexual and violent offenders behind bars for longer.

Meanwhile the Domestic Abuse Act is set to transform the response to all forms of abuse and provide greater protection to victims.