Wes Streeting labels Tory NHS recovery plan “just another cancelled operation”

Wes Streeting has criticised ministers for delaying the publication of a plan to help the health service recover from the pandemic and tackle record-high numbers of people on NHS waiting lists, describing it as “just another cancelled operation”.

Tabling an urgent question in parliament today, the Shadow Health Secretary called on Sajid Javid to make a statement on the plan, which was due to be published today, but junior health minister Edward Argar appeared in his stead.

“No wonder the Health Secretary hasn’t bothered to show his face this afternoon, he’s probably still recovering from the embarrassment of the media round this morning where the big announcement was, literally, that there is no announcement,” Streeting told MPs this afternoon.

Javid warned this morning that the NHS backlog is going to get worse before it gets better while defending the postponement and also argued that, despite the setback to the crucial plan, Boris Johnson is “delivering” for the country.

“This isn’t a Covid backlog. This is a Tory backlog. We went into the pandemic with NHS waiting lists already at 4.5 million and now six million people are waiting on NHS waiting lists. More than ever before,” the Shadow Health Secretary said.

“The NHS itself is waiting, waiting for the government’s plan to deal with the backlog. So, where is it? It was due to be published today but was pulled last night. It’s like something from The Thick of It, but the reality is worse than fiction.”

The urgent question followed reports over the weekend that the Treasury intervened to block the announcement of an NHS recovery plan today. Treasury sources said the delay was agreed with the NHS, but the claim is disputed by those working in the health service and the Department for Health and Social Care.

Streeting quoted a government source who said “it’s pretty obvious it’s about Treasury reluctance to rescue the Prime Minister” and asked the minister: “Is this where the shambles in the Conservative Party have taken us?”

He highlighted a target announced by Johnson in a TV interview earlier today, that nobody should wait more than two months for a cancer diagnosis, but argued that “there was already a target for the vast majority of cancer patients to be treated within two months of referral” that has not been met since 2015.

“The Prime Minister has also announced that three out of four patients should receive a cancer diagnosis within 28 days, but this is an existing target that was introduced last April and has never been met,” the Shadow Health Secretary added.

Argar said in parliament this afternoon that the Prime Minister is “unapologetically ambitious” about cancer targets and repeated the objectives set out by Johnson in his interview. He also echoed the Health Secretary, telling MPs that the number of people on waiting lists will “get worse before it gets better”.

News of the difficulties in relation to the NHS recovery plan emerged alongside figures showing that the number of cancer patients facing delays in seeing a specialist for the first time and starting their treatment has hit a record high.

Half a million people in England with suspected cancer will have to wait longer than the supposed two-week maximum to see an oncologist this year. The number confirmed to have cancer who are unable to start treatment within 31 or 62 days is expected to exceed 75,000 for the first time.

Streeting concluded that “the waiting list crisis is the chickens coming home to roost after more than a decade of Tory failure”, adding: “The Treasury blocked a plan for staffing and now they’re blocking a plan to cut waiting times.”

Argar argued during his statement that two million of the people on NHS waiting lists have entered the lists since the pandemic began and attributed the currently rising figure to infection control measures at the height of the virus.

He described the situation facing the NHS as a “once-in-a-generation challenge”. He insisted the delay was due to the Omicron variant and said health ministers “couldn’t wish for a better partner than Her Majesty’s Treasury or this Chancellor”.

“The government said it was going to come with a plan and now it hasn’t, and I think it’s yet more evidence of the chaos, incompetence, particularly of the last three or four months where everybody’s been broiled in allegations about partygate – there is a price for that, and the price is the government not getting on with the job,” Keir Starmer said earlier today.

Johnson has been under increasing pressure from his party in recent weeks. Around 15 Tory MPs are thought to have submitted letters of no confidence following numerous revelations that rule-breaking social gatherings took place in Downing Street and elsewhere in Whitehall offices during Covid lockdowns.

Commenting on resignations from Downing Street in recent days, and the appointment of Guto Harri, the Labour leader added: “I personally think that nothing will really change until the person at the top changes, because all routes lead to the prime minister, and that’s the change we really need to see now.”