Miliband announces “GP guarantee” – and confirms plans to integrate health and social care

Speaking this evening in Manchester, Ed Miliband will unveil a new “GP guarantee”, designed to improve services for patients, ease the pressure on hospitals, and restore the right values to the heart of the NHS. The GP guarantee would mean patients would be able to:

• Consult a doctor or a nurse at their local GP surgery on the same day
• Get an appointment at their surgery on the same day if they need to be seen quickly
• Have a guaranteed appointment at their GP surgery within 48 hours
• Book an appointment more than 48 hours ahead with the GP of their choice

Under the Tories the proportion of patients able to get a GP appointment within 48 hours has slumped from 80% to just 40% – and a quarter of people are unable to get an appointment in the same week. Whilst this might not be a pledge that will set the Westminster Village alight – and it’s, it’s a real issue across the country and it’s something that comes up regularly on the doorstep (if people are lucky enough to even be able to find a doctor in some areas, that is).

Just as interesting as the central pledge in Miliband’s speech though is that he’s also talking about an integrated health and social care service. Miliband will say this evening that ““Our plan for the long-term of the NHS starts by making sure that physical health, mental health and social care – services which have stood apart for too long – work together”. That’ll be music to the ears of Andy Burnham, who has been pushing for this for years, without it ever getting the thumping seal of approval from Miliband. What exactly that combined health and social care service might look like remains to be seen however.

Meanwhile there are also repeated pledges to invest in preventative care (of which greater access to GPs is just one part) and repealing Tory competition laws – which will appeal to those in the party who are fearer about the privatisation of the NHS.

Here are some of the key extracts from Miliband’s speech:

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On David Cameron’s broken promises…

“In the year leading up to the next General Election and beginning in this local and European campaign the National Health Service needs to be on the centre stage of British politics. People remember the promises David Cameron made at the last election: the airbrushed posters and the three letters he said he cared about most: NHS. But we all know the reality now: the broken promises.

“David Cameron said there would be moratorium on hospital closures. But he has taken on sweeping new powers to close services over the heads of local people.He said there would be no return to people waiting for hours in A&E.But last year more people waited for over four hours in A&E than for any time for a decade.He promised to protect frontline services.But a quarter of walk-in centres have been closed since 2010.

“He promised that people should be able to see their GP “24/7”. But a quarter of the public now say they can’t get an appointment in the same week. It’s a scandal that people are waiting that long, it is not how our NHS, the pride of Britain, should work.

“And he promised there would be no more top down reorganisations. But he spent billions of pounds on a top-down reorganization that nobody wanted and nobody voted for which has put the principles of markets and competition at the heart of the NHS like never before: A boost for the private companies and competition lawyers; a burden for everyone else.

“Competition, fragmentation, and privatisation – that’s how the Tories see the future of our NHS and that’s why it is going backwards. David Cameron has broken his bond of trust with the British people on the NHS. He has proved the oldest truth in British politics: you can’t trust the Tories with the NHS.”

On the challenges faced by the NHS…

“One of the greatest achievements of our NHS and the 20^th Century is now also one of the greatest challenges for our NHS in the 21^st Century. It’s great people are living longer – but it means the NHS is having to cope with people in their 80s and 90s that it never had to cope with before. They don’t simply have medical needs, but care needs which the NHS is not used to tackling.

“A hospital can only be as good as the services around it: access to the GP; care in the home; prevention, not just cure. If those things aren’t right, all of the problems end back up on the hospital. There is a greater need than ever before to make sure services are joined up so that people with chronic conditions can continue to live independently at home.  And there are ever greater advances in medical awareness and technology: illnesses we once didn’t know existed we now know how to treat. So people’s expectations of care are rightly higher than ever before.

“And we know money will be tight. The last Labour government was able to deliver some very big increases in health service spending. The next Labour government won’t be able to match that scale of increase. We will have to do things in a new way to make our health service better, to save money where we can – and make sure that every single penny is well spent.”

Mr Miliband will set out the three pillars of Labour’s plan to improve, protect  and nurture the NHS for generations to come.

“1. Make the NHS a service for mental health, physical health and care for the elderly

“Our plan for the long-term of the NHS starts by making sure that physical health, mental health and social care – services which have stood apart for too long – work together.Just think of the difference it could make. If a simple grab rail is placed in someone’s hall at home, that can stop a fall that could lead to that person breaking a bone, keeping them out of hospital, saving them the pain and the suffering, and saving the NHS thousands of pounds.

“2. Make the NHS a preventive service not just a reactive service, by investing in care where people live.

“I can announce the next Labour government will put in place a new set of standards: a same-day consultation with your GP surgery with a guarantee of a GP appointment if you need it that day, a GP appointment guaranteed for all within 48 hours, and the right to book further ahead with the GP of your choice if your priority is to plan ahead or to see your preferred doctor. This will be better for patients, because they have better access to their GP surgery; better for the NHS, because it will save money currently spent in A&E; and better for Britain, because it is the kind of health service we need.

“3. Put the principles of cooperation and integration, not competition and privatisation, back at the heart of the health service.

“We will restore the fundamental values of the NHS, end David Cameron’s dogmatic obsession withcompetition and privatisation, and reduce the huge costs that have come about because of it.  Private companies can sometimes help bring down waiting lists or provide specialist services that the NHS can’t. But this government thinks competition and privatization should be at the core of the way the NHS works. We’ll go back to the right principles, to the right values. We’ll clamp down on the competition lawyers, bogging down the NHS and distracting from patient need – and we’ll put £100 million of the savings these changes make straight back into improving GP care.”