Keir Starmer has outlined a 10-year plan for the NHS based on a shift from hospitals to community health hubs, a renewed focus on prevention and an embrace of technology, which was billed as perhaps the last chance to save the health service in its current form.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a health centre in Stratford, east London, alongside Wes Streeting<\/a>, the health secretary; and Rachel Reeves, the chancellor \u2013 who had not been expected to appear \u2013 Starmer insisted this would be different to the long list of previous NHS revamps that achieved little.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re putting in the resources, we\u2019re putting in the priorities and we\u2019ve got the resolve to see this through,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the end, I genuinely think it is only Labour<\/a> governments that can do this.<\/p>\n \u201cI want in 10, 20, 30 years for people to look back and say this was the government that seized the moment and reformed the NHS<\/a> so it\u2019s fit for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Setting out the broad details of the plan, a 165-page document published as Starmer spoke, the prime minister said the service in England<\/a> would be shifted \u201cfrom being only a sickness service to a health service which is genuinely preventative \u2013 prevents diseases in the first place\u201d.<\/p>\n This would involve, he said, more of a focus on areas such as screening and early diagnosis, and on vaccinations and lifestyle-based measures such as pharmacy-based weight-loss services and measures to make supermarket foods healthier.<\/p>\n Another pillar, he said, would be to move away from a \u201chospital-dominated service\u201d to one more based around community health centres such as the one he spoke in, saying this was needed to reflect the gradual societal shift away from acute health crises to more chronic, longer-term conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will always need hospitals,\u201d he said. \u201cThey will always be important for acute services in particular. But disease has changed, and we must change with it.\u201d<\/p>\n The final focus, he said, would be on \u201ca truly digital health service\u201d, based on hi-tech diagnostic and treatment options, but also a gradually expanded NHS app, which Starmer said would be \u201clike having a doctor in your pocket, providing you with 24-hour advice, seven days a week; an NHS that really is always there when you need it\u201d.<\/p>\n The plan says the NHS is \u201cat an existential brink\u201d after years of neglect by the Conservatives, and only Labour\u2019s radical transformation will stop it losing support as a taxpayer-funded model of care.<\/p>\n It says that Labour last year inherited an NHS where many people cannot get to see a GP or dentist, waiting lists have soared, staff are demoralised and outcomes from killer diseases such as cancer are worse than in other countries.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is why the NHS now stands at an existential brink,\u201d it says. With the ageing population creating more illness \u201cwithout change, this will threaten yet worse access and outcomes \u2013 and even more will opt out and go private if they can afford to.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will increasingly wonder why they pay so much tax for a service they do not use, eroding the principle of solidarity that has sustained the NHS. We will be condemned to a poor service for poor people.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n But health experts disputed that analysis. Thea Stein, the chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, said: \u201cThe government is right about the serious problems it diagnoses in the NHS, and largely right in the vision it proposes to win back public faith. But we do not agree with the prophecy of extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n