New laws to end the crisis in health and care need to be at the heart of the King’s Speech on Wednesday.
Over the past few weeks we heard thousands of heartbreaking stories on doorsteps about just how dire a state our NHS is in. Time and again we were told of people waiting hours for an ambulance, weeks for a GP appointment and months to start vital cancer treatment.
The Conservative Party brought our health and care services to the brink of collapse. After years of neglect, the top priority of the incoming Labour government should now be to save our health and care services.
That is why the Liberal Democrats want to see the NHS and care put at the heart of the King’s Speech, including ending long delays for GP appointments and cancer treatment. Patients simply cannot wait any longer.
GPs
Since the Conservatives promised to hire 6,000 more GPs, the number has fallen by almost 500, leaving our GP services in crisis and people struggling to get an appointment.
Liberal Democrats want to see patients given a new legal right ot see a GP within a week.
Cancer treatment
More than 100,000 patients in the last year waited longer than the NHS target of 62 days to start urgent cancer treatment.
Liberal Democrats want to see a cancer care guarantee with a statutory duty on the Government to ensure that every patient can start cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent diagnosis.
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