We’ll boost nurses and get NHS off critical list’
LABOUR will recruit 24,000 extra nurses if Jeremy Corbyn becomes PM – while the Tories will fall 10,000 short if Boris Johnson stays in power.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth has revealed a manifesto pledge to reinstate student bursaries worth £20,000 a year in maintenance and support.
The Tories scrapping them three years ago is a factor in 40,000 nursing posts standing empty.
And the number will rise by 10,000 over the next five years.
Mr Ashworth said: “I will be the nurses’ champion because I know how valuable they are.
“And every patient knows they go the extra mile day in, day out. Our NHS is built on its staff and in particular its nurses and midwives.”
Bringing back bursaries will cost £1billion a year. Mr Ashworth will aim to increase the numbers specialising in mental health and disability plus those working as health visitors and community district nurses. He added: “All these areas have seen cutbacks under the Tories and I want to reverse that.”
He will also abandon Mr Johnson’s plan to charge nurses coming here from abroad £400 in visa costs. If we stayed in the EU, staff from Europe would not have to pay anything. And under Labour, nor will they if we leave.
Mr Ashworth said: “Rather than introduce this nurses’ recruitment tax we will allow our hospitals to recruit both internationally and ethically without them having to pay.”
The Royal College of Nursing warned former PM Theresa May her long-term health plan would not work unless an extra £1billion was invested in nurse training.
The number of people applying to study nursing in England has fallen by 13,000 since 2016. The shortage is especially acute in the over25s. Applications have fallen by 41 per cent since bursaries ended. The RCN’S Dame Donna Kinnair said: “Failure to act now risks patient care for a generation.”
Should Labour win the election and Mr Ashworth replace Matt Hancock as Health Secretary on December 13, he will have a lot on his plate. Hospital waiting lists are at an all-time high of
4.4 million. On Mr Hancock’s 16-month watch, 18-week waits for treatment rose from 504,000 to 662,000.
When critics say Labour cannot improve on that, Mr Ashworth points to the last Labour government, when waiting lists were at their lowest and patient satisfaction at its highest.
He added: “I also need to deal with the new challenges. There has to be a greater emphasis on keeping people healthy. We do that by tackling obesity, improving mental health support and the health of our children.
“Delivering healthcare is about working as part of a team with doctors, nurses, midwives, porters and cleaners to produce the quality care patients deserve. And they are not getting that at the moment.
“I’m passionate about the NHS and I will fight for it as if our lives depended on it, which, of course, they do.”
Jeremy Corbyn and shadow education secretary Angela Rayner revealed plans to invest £1billion in new Sure Start centres yesterday.
Speaking while visiting an early years art project in Leeds, they also pledged to provide 30 hours of free childcare a week for children aged two to four, and free school meals for all primary schoolkids.
Mr Corbyn said: “The Tories are failing a whole generation of children.”