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Health Secretary Wes Streeting calls on Brits to consider a career on the NHS frontline – insisting it remains a funding priority despite new arms race in Europe and Russian aggression
Wes Streeting vows to ‘deliver the change’ that NHS needs
Wes Streeting has issued a rallying cry for people to join the NHS with “Blitz spirit” and save it from the brink the Tories pushed it to.
The Health Secretary hopes the plea starts a revolution to reverse the exodus of staff that have left hospitals and care services on their knees amid vicious cuts. Mr Streeting also appealed to those thinking of leaving the NHS due to chronic shortages making their jobs unbearable to stay and help shape Labour’s vision for it.
With the service short of 150,000 staff and the number of students applying to become nurses hitting a record low, he said: “We need some Blitz spirit to get our NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future. There’s a hell of a lot for us to do. I can’t do it on my own. I can only do it if we mobilise millions of people in health and social care to do something that is a truly historic challenge.
“My appeal to staff in the NHS who are thinking of leaving and my appeal to people who are maybe thinking about a career in the NHS is to be part of the generation that will be able to say for the rest of our lives. We took the NHS in the worst crisis in history, got it back on its feet and made it fit for the future.’
“I could understand after what they’ve been through under the Tories why some people have left the NHS. But I’d say, ‘There’s light at the end of the tunnel with this government’. We’ve not even been in for a year yet but we’re seeing some encouraging signs of things finally moving in the right direction.”
Mr Streeting made the appeal on Thursday in Peterborough at an event to gather NHS staff views on how to fix the health service. The Royal College of Nursing welcomed the call for new staff, but general secretary Professor Nicola Ranger warned Mr Streeting “simply tugging on heart strings will not work”. She added: “The real answer to get the NHS back on its feet is significant investment in the nursing workforce.”
Mr Streeting spoke amid a spending boost on defence by Keir Starmer, who vowed to increase funding from 2.3% of GDP to 2.5% by April 2027 and to 3% after the next election. The PM said that was in response to a “dangerous new era” as tyrant Vladimir Putin continues his war on Ukraine, which sits on the doorstep of Europe.
Donald Trump has suggested he may abandon America’s post-war obligation to defend European allies as part of Nato. The President has called on members to spend 5% of GDP and last year said he would “encourage” Putin to invade those who failed to pay their bills.
Mr Streeting said the NHS is “a critical part of Britain’s national security infrastructure”. He added: “The health of the nation and the defence of the nation go hand in hand. The NHS will always be a priority for a Labour government. We’ve got probably the toughest challenge of any government since the Second World War.
“I sit at the Cabinet table and think, ‘Who’s got the hardest job?’ The Defence Secretary now contemplating the threat of Russia on our continent? The Education Secretary dealing with crumbling schools? The Home Secretary dealing with not enough police?”
A fifth of total spending in the UK goes towards health and social care, second to the Department for Work and Pensions. In 2022, the UK spent 11.3% of GDP on health, compared to 12.7% in Germany and 16.6% in the US. Tory NHS cuts and wage freezes since 2010 has resulted in the shocking number of vacant posts. NHS waiting list hit a record high in September 2023 with 7.8 million people on it. When the Tories came to power it was 2.5 million. It has fallen for four months in a row to 7.5 million.
But Nursing and Midwifery Council data found numbers leaving its register within five years of joining were up 49% last year. And UCAS figures for the 2025 university submissions found the number of applications for nursing has collapsed by 35% in England.
