Labour rounds on Tory health plans
The Labour Party has come out fighting against the newly-launched Conservative health manifesto.
Alan Milburn, Labour’s general election co-ordinator, accused the Conservatives of planning to introduce NHS charging and promoting private healthcare.
Although the battle on immigration has dominated the two parties’ attention for the past few weeks, the focus now seems to be switching to the public services.
This morning Conservative leader Michael Howard promised that a Conservative government would give medical staff the right to overrule managers on when a ward should be closed, spend money more efficiently and abolish targets.
But headlining their pledges was the promise of an “end to waiting lists” with patients having a choice of hospital to be treated in – NHS or private – that met NHS standards and costs.
In addition, individuals choosing to go completely private would be able to claim back half of the cost of the NHS treatment.
Although the Conservatives were at pains to stress that nobody would be required to pay for NHS treatment, Labour accused the Tories of attempting to introduce an NHS system where money talks.
Health Secretary John Hutton accused the Conservatives of breaking with basic founding principles of the NHS, by seeking to charge for basic operations and by planning to spend NHS money to benefit those who chose private healthcare.
Mr Hutton said that by the Conservatives’ own figures, the policy of subsidising private healthcare would cost the NHS £1.2 billion, and would simply be providing subsidies for those who already use private health care.
It would benefit the wealthy and fail to benefit the most in need, he added.
And the Secretary of State for Health said that waiting times had fallen from up to 18 months before 1997 to under nine months now under Labour.
Mr Milburn added that the opposition would “denigrate” the improving NHS because they want pave the way for charging patients, and to convince people to opt to go private.
