38 Degrees Survey on How to Cut NHS Waiting Times

‘David, it’s been reported that one in five of us are stuck on an NHS waiting list – 2 million more than previously thought! [1]

The Government has boasted about bringing the numbers down slightly in recent months. The truth is that millions of us are still left languishing in fear and pain, waiting for treatment – hundreds of thousands more than when Rishi Sunak promised that “NHS waiting lists will fall” back in January last year. [2] That’s nothing to celebrate.

We’re in an election year and the NHS tops the list of concerns for many of us. So our message to political parties couldn’t be clearer: enough is enough – we can’t wait any longer. Any party that wants to form the next government must make plans to end these endless waiting lists.

The plan is simple, David. If enough of us share our stories about how bad things have got, alongside our personal experiences of when things worked in the past, we can show how the NHS has worked for us before and can work again, but only if there’s the political will.

So David, will you share your NHS experience with us today to help pile the pressure on our politicians to bring waiting lists down? It only takes a few minutes to share your story but it could make all the difference. Here’s the first question to get you started:

Do you believe it’s possible for the NHS to give us the care we need, when we need it?

YES

NO

Only recently, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, was arguing for MORE privatisation of the NHS to tackle waiting lists. [3] But we all know that opening up the doors of our NHS to profit-hungry private companies could signal the end of the NHS as we know it. [4] The experts are clear, privatisation drains money from the NHS, poaches NHS staff and services and is ultimately bad for patients. [5]

This is not the solution.

Our NHS is in crisis: it’s no accident, but it is an emergency. Most of us will know someone who’s on the waiting list – often living in pain or discomfort – waiting for months or even years for treatment, tests or assessments. This is a direct result of the Government’s failure to deliver on their promise to bring waiting times down.

But it doesn’t have to be like this, David.

Will you help us highlight the difference in how the NHS used to work for us and the state of it today? There are a few quick questions for you to answer. Here’s the first question to get you started:

Do you believe it’s possible for the NHS to give us the care we need, when we need it?

YES

NO

Thanks for all you do,

Tom, Megan and the 38 Degrees team

NOTES:
[1] BBC: One in five waiting for hospital care in England, survey suggests
Independent: NHS waiting list could be 2 million higher than thought, new data suggests
[2] BBC: Rishi Sunak: Hold me to account if NHS waiting lists don’t fall
Huffington Post: Rishi Sunak Promised To Cut NHS Waiting Lists. They’ve Gone Up By 330,000
The Guardian: NHS waiting lists falling but will stay above pre-Covid levels until 2030, IFS says
[3] The Financial Times: NHS should ‘seek to use’ private healthcare capacity, Wes Streeting says
The Guardian: ‘Middle-class lefties’ won’t stop Labour using private sector to cut NHS backlog, Streeting says
[4] The Financial Times: Investors eye opportunities in Labour pledge to boost private health sector
[5] The Guardian: NHS privatisation drive linked to rise in avoidable deaths, study suggests
The Guardian: Investors are making a fortune from UK healthcare. Why is nobody holding private equity to account?
The Guardian: NHS doctors offered up to £5,000 to recruit colleagues for private hospitals‘

I’ve completed the survey. My experience with my local Hospital Trust has been excellent, but others haven’t been nearly so lucky with theirs. And yes, we do have to make appointments to see the doctor. I can remember, waaaay back when I was at school in the 1980s, when you could make an appointment with your GP and be seen the same day. So does Anne Widdecombe, now one of the leaders of Reform. Reform are Thatcherite to the core, and fervently anti-immigrant and pro-Brexit. Widdecombe says that it could be done, conveniently forgetting she was part of the crowd that reduced it to its present parlous state. It can indeed, Anne, but not by and Reform.

As to how it can be improved, my suggestions are:

1. Renationalise it, so that all the funding goes into paying its staff and not into the corporate bureaucracy, management bonuses and share dividends of the outsourcing companies.
2. Raise funding to continental levels.
3. Train more doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

If this is done, which requires real will and determination, we could have again the world class NHS that the Tories have done so much to destroy.

Tags: 38 Degrees, Anne Widdecombe, BBC, Dividends, doctors, Funding, GPS, Huffington Post, Labour Party, Management, Margaret Thatcher, Nationalisation, NHS, NHS Privatisation, Nurses, Private Healthcare Companies, Private Hospitals, Reform Party, Rishi Sunak, Shareholders, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent (newspaper), Training, Waiting Lists, Wes Streeting