‘Building an NHS that is truly fit for the future’

Like people right across the country, I owe so much to the NHS. It helped me overcome a rare and serious neurological condition and thanks to the care of brilliant people, I am now symptom-free. The best part of my new role over the last month has been meeting so many more exceptional staff who are the beating heart of the health service.

Becoming Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is an immense honour. I’m proud to build on the progress we’ve made in less than two years of this Labour Government. With record investment, and the incredible efforts of NHS leaders and workers on the frontline, there are now over half a million fewer people in England on waiting lists, satisfaction with GPs is significantly up and 240,000 more patients have received their cancer test results on time.

But we must not waste a second in going further. That’s why, in the last month, I decided to introduce a new programme of targeted prostate cancer screening, appointed a new National Maternity Adviser and accepted in full the recommendations from Lord Mann’s review into antisemitism and other forms of racism in the NHS.

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I have also taken the NHS Modernisation Bill through its Second Reading in the Commons. This Bill will create a new Single Patient Record – helping clinicians make better, quicker, safer decisions and ending, once and for all, the need for people to keep repeating their medical history as they make their way through the NHS for diagnosis and treatment.

As Health Secretary, I’m accelerating our work as a government to digitise and modernise the NHS for the future. This work builds on the improvement and change of the past two years; we will only be able to keep improving the health service over the rest of this Parliament and beyond with a determined and detailed focus on driving new technology and AI throughout the system.

In recent weeks, we have, of course, also faced disappointment, with the BMA resident doctors committee deciding to call another round of strikes. When I met them last month, I offered to strengthen the deal on the table in terms of training opportunities and working conditions – while being clear we cannot go beyond the existing very generous offer on pay.

My door remains open. I want an agreement that benefits patients and clinicians alike, and is fair to taxpayers. The NHS will cope with these strikes, but like previous rounds of industrial action, they will put extra pressure on other NHS staff and the public finances, and jeopardise the progress we’ve made in getting waiting lists down and public satisfaction up.

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That really matters because – under Labour – the NHS has turned a corner. Getting a quicker invite for cancer screening, getting a GP appointment more easily or spending less time in an A&E waiting room is progress people can see with their own eyes and I’m determined we do more.

Let’s not forget how things were before: the Conservatives ran the health service into the ground and left it underfunded and demotivated. Let’s also remember that, given the chance, Nigel Farage would sell it to the highest bidder.

In every role I’ve held in public office – from council cabinet member and deputy mayor in London, to my recent roles in the Treasury – I’ve seen how we can deliver what we’ve promised by following through on the detail and by reforming how the system works.

Now we as a government have stabilised the NHS, I am determined we keep heading in the right direction – improving and modernising our health service, making changes people can feel. As a Labour party determined to meet the promises we made to the country, we must put all our efforts into building an NHS that is truly fit for the future.

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