Member

I turn to the elective reform plan the Prime Minister has launched today. The Government inherited NHS waiting lists at 7.6 million. The NHS standard, that patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks for treatment, has not been met for a decade. Millions of patients are forced to put their lives on hold while they wait. In his investigation, Lord Darzi listed the causes of this crisis: the undoing of new Labour’s reforms, the disastrous top-down reorganisation, and slashing GPs and community health services, all of which have led to a dramatic drop in hospital productivity. Lord Darzi has diagnosed the condition; now this Labour Government are prescribing the cure.