The government will target areas with the ‘highest numbers of people off work sick’ for a new initiative to get hospitals running like a ‘Formula 1 pit stop’.
Speaking today at the Labour Party conference, health secretary Wes Streeting announced plans for ‘crack teams of top clinicians’ to go into hospitals and roll our reforms in operating theatres.
The new ways of working have been developed by surgeons and can deliver ‘up to four times more operations than normal’, according to Labour.
This model is based on operating theatres at Guys and St Thomas’ in London which Labour said ‘run like a formula one pit stop to cut time between procedures’.
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Mr Streeting said the initial focus on 20 hospital trusts in areas with the ‘biggest rates of economic inactivity’ is based on the government’s commitment to ‘moving the dial’ on its ‘growth mission’.
During his speech today, the health secretary also promised to maintain the NHS as a service which is free at the point of use, claiming that the ‘crisis’ left by the Conservatives means that ‘seven in 10 people now expect charges for NHS care to be introduced’.
‘I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: over my dead body. We will always defend our NHS as a public service free at the point of use, so that whenever you fall ill, you never have to worry about the bill,’ he told the conference.
Mr Streeting also said the government has ‘hit the ground running’ since the election, pointing to his decision to expand the ARRS to include GPs with £82m of extra funding.
He said: ‘We inherited the farce of newly qualified GPs facing unemployment. Patients can’t get a GP appointment while GPs couldn’t get a job. We cut red tape, found the funding, and we’ll have 1,000 more GPs treating patients.’
However, GPs have expressed concern that the finalised details for this scheme are yet to be published with only a week until the October start date.
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As well as the focus on areas of high ‘economic activity’, the health secretary also indicated today that government initiatives will be targeted at ‘disadvantaged areas’.
Mr Streeting argued that patient ‘choice’ should not ‘just be the preserve of the wealthy’, and that ‘power should be in ‘in the hands of the many’.
‘So starting in the most disadvantaged areas, we will ensure patients’ right to choose where they are treated, and we will build up local health services so it’s a genuine choice,’ he added.
Mr Streeting also recommitted his pledge to creating a National Care Service, adding: ‘I will deliver a new deal for care professionals: a Fair Pay Agreement, to improve pay and conditions and give staff the status and respect they deserve – our first step towards building a National Care Service.’
Earlier this month, ahead of Darzi review’s publication, the health secretary set out three ‘strategic shifts’ for the NHS’ which included moving care from ‘hospital to community’.
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Lord Ara Darzi’s review set out that increased general practice funding should be a ‘fundamental strategic shift’ for the government and raised the alarm about declining community nursing numbers.
A version of this article first appeared in our sister title, Pulse.
