Labour manifesto 2024: What are the party’s NHS and health policies?

Labour is proud of its heritage as the party that founded the NHS – and it continues to be one of its core campaign issues.

The 2024 manifesto is full of pledges to support the health service, from new appointments to bring down wait times to plans to train thousands more GPs.

With the public acutely aware of the crisis that faces the NHS, Labour’s health policies are a centrepiece of its policy platfom.

The party also plans to bring in new measures to support people with disabilities and other health conditions at work, as well as mental health support in schools.

READ MORE: ‘The Labour manifesto’s health policies show a little-noticed radicalism’

Here is a summary of the party’s key manifesto pledges on health and the NHS:

• Cut NHS waiting times with 40,000 more appointments every week 
•  Double the number of cancer scanners 
• A New Dentistry Rescue Plan  
• Return of the family doctor
• Reform employment support so it drives growth and opportunity.

• Create plans to support more disabled people and those with health conditions at work.
• Access to specialist mental health professionals in every school
• In England delivers an extra two million NHS operations, scans, and appointments every year; that is 40,000 more appointments every week.
• Incentivising staff to carry out additional appointments out of hours.
• Introduce shared waiting lists to allow patients to be treated quicker
• Use spare capacity in the independent sector to ensure patients are diagnosed and treated more quickly
• NHS long-term workforce plan to train the staff we need to get patients seen on time.
• Reset relationships with NHS staff 
• ‘Fit For the Future’ fund to double the number of CT and MRI scanners
• Delivering the New Hospitals Programme
• Maximise our potential to lead the world in clinical trials.
• People have a change to giving performance information on local NHS services on the NHS App
• Train thousands more midwives as part of the NHS Workforce Plan 
• Set an explicit target to close the Black and Asian maternal mortality gap
• Digitise the Red Book record of children’s health. 
• Implement professional standards and regulate NHS managers, ensuring those who commit serious misconduct can never do so again.
• Establish a Royal College of Clinical Leadership 
• Implement the expert recommendations of the Cass Review 
• Train thousands more GPs
• Guarantee a face-to-face appointment for all those who want one
• Deliver a modern appointment booking system to end the 8am scramble.
• Create a Community Pharmacist Prescribing Service, granting more pharmacists independent prescribing rights
• Trial Neighbourhood Health Centres
• Reform the dental contract, with a shift to focusing on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists
• Supervised tooth-brushing scheme for 3- to 5-year-olds
• National Care Service – ‘home first’ approach that supports people to live independently for as long as possible.
• Fair Pay Agreement in adult social care
• 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults through our first term.
• Next generation can never legally buy cigarettes
• Ensure all hospitals integrate ‘optout’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care
• Labour will ban vapes from being branded and advertised to appeal to children 
• Advertising junk food to children along with the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16s
• Online Safety Act
• Give Coroners more powers to access information held by technology companies after a child’s death
• Labour will reform gambling regulation, strengthening protections.
• Labour will commission a new HIV action plan in England, in pursuit of ending HIV cases by 2030

Find out more through our wider 2024 Labour party manifesto coverage so far:

READ MORE: Labour manifesto launch: Live updates, reaction and analysis

READ MORE: Full manifesto costs breakdown – and how tax and borrowing fund it

READ MORE: The key manifesto policy priorities in brief

READ MORE: Labour vows to protect green belt despite housebuilding drive

READ MORE: Watch as Starmer heckled by protestor inside with ‘youth deserve better’ banner

READ MORE: GMB calls manifesto ‘vision of hope’ but Unite says ‘not enough’

READ MORE: Manifesto commits to Brexit and being ‘confident’ outside EU

READ MORE: Labour to legislate on New Deal for Working People within 100 days – key policies breakdown 

READ MORE: Labour to give 16-year-olds right to vote

READ MORE: Starmer says ‘manifesto for wealth creation’ will kickstart growth

READ MORE: Dodds: ‘Our manifesto is a fully funded vision, while Tories offer a Christmas tree of gimmicks’

READ MORE: IFS: Labour manifesto doesn’t raise enough cash to fund ‘genuine change’

READ MORE: ‘Labour’s manifesto is one the party can promote with confidence’

READ MORE: ‘No manifesto surprises, but fear not: all parties do so much more in power’

Read more of our 2024 general election coverage here.

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