UK oppn leader Keir Starmer vows to cut NHS waiting lists with 2 million appointments annually

UK's opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer pledged to cut the NHS waiting lists in England. His proposal involves funding an additional two million hospital appointments each year, aimed at reducing patient waiting times. To achieve this goal, Starmer has said that he would commit to allocating £1.1 billion annually, which would enable the creation of 40,000 out-of-hours appointments on a weekly basis. This increased capacity would help meet the growing demand for healthcare services, he saidon the eve of the party's conference in Liverpool,

Starmer has outlined a funding mechanism for this initiative, proposing to finance it by discontinuing the non-domiciled (non-dom) tax status for affluent individuals.

He told Sunday Mirror, "We will use the money from abolishing the non-dom status. That's where the super-rich don't pay their tax in this country. I think they should."

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Labour claimed that this measure would save nearly £2 billion. They plan to allocate £171 million to double the number of CT scanners in NHS hospitals and £111 million to enhance dental services, all financed by the anticipated savings.

Increasing NHS capacity through overtime

To address the immediate challenge of NHS waiting lists, the Labour Party's proposal also included paying existing NHS staff overtime to expand the healthcare system's capacity. While the party plans to recruit more healthcare workers, it said that achieving significant reductions in waiting lists will take several years.

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In addition to addressing healthcare issues, the Labour Party has set forth a comprehensive strategy for addressing local skills shortages, media reports said.

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They plan to establish specialised further education colleges to tackle these shortages effectively. This strategy would involve close collaboration with local political leaders and businesses to identify and rectify specific skill gaps in various regions.

"Everything we do will be about delivering growth," Sir Keir reportedly told Observer newspaper.

Labour Party also plans to address the NHS waiting lists issue by optimising resources. Patients would have the option to seek treatment at nearby hospitals during evenings and weekends to reduce waiting times.

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