Stuart Andrew MP defended the Tory record, despite waiting lists soaring to a record 7.7 million on their watch, with more than 300,000 people waiting over a year for treatment
The Tories have been urged to ‘hang their heads in shame’ after the Shadow Health Secretary claimed they should be “incredibly proud” of their NHS record.
Speaking at a members’ event last month, Stuart Andrew MP defended the Tory record, despite waiting lists soaring to a record 7.7 million on their watch. The total NHS waiting list is now almost three times the 2010 figure, and included over 300,000 people waiting over a year for treatment.
Mr Andrew said: “There’s a lot that we did for the National Health Service that we should be incredibly proud of.
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“And those diagnosis centres have been a really critical part of that, and I think it is right that we start to highlight more what we achieved, the programme that we started, the significant investment that we brought.”
At Labour party conference the Prime Minister announced patients will be able to use a new “online hospital” from 2027, with millions of extra appointments created to slash waits for care.
From 2027, the newly created NHS Online will radically reshape the system by connecting people to specialist doctors through the NHS App.
The defence of the Tory record is a stark contrast to what the party has said publicly, with Neil O’Brien admitting on the Spectator podcast that the “health service wasn’t where it wanted to be” when the Conservatives left office. Now the union UNISON has accused the Tories of causing the biggest NHS crisis “in history”.
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The Tories should be hanging their heads in shame, not crowing about their NHS record. In government they ran services into the ground, awarded lucrative contracts to cronies and denied staff a proper pay rise.
“The NHS is now facing the biggest crisis in history with record waiting lists, huge understaffing and morale at rock bottom. The health of the nation is never safe in Conservative hands.”
Helen Morgan MP, Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson, said: “The only thing the Tories managed to get down to record levels during their stint in office was their own poll ratings.
“The Conservative Party crashed our NHS and left care services on their knees. We recommend the shadow health secretary urgently see a doctor about his chronic case of brass neck.”
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