NHS outlines priorities for the next government

#NHS providers are viewing the upcoming election as an opportunity to outline their priorities. With the demand for services going through the roof, and many #NHS services at breaking point, additional funding is seen as essential. NHS service providers have called for considerable investment in social care and Mental Health Services.

Pay and working conditions for #NHS staff have also been making the headlines, with some staff believed to have left #NHS positions to work in supermarkets and avail of better employment conditions.

Election Promises and the NHS

#NHS funding is again proving to be a key issue in the general election campaign with each party promising to solve #NHS funding issues. The Liberal Democrats have vowed to raise income tax by 1 percent to increase funding. The party leader, Tim Farron, emphasising the need for honesty, explained:

"...we all need to chip in a little more" and went on to say:" This is an average of £3 a week for the average earner in this country, so a pint of beer a week to pay for a health and social care service that will last us from cradle to grave."

The Labour Party said it would outline its #NHS policies in the election manifesto, however, already vowed to stop hospital cuts.

In recent days, Jeremy Corbyn has also promised to abolish hospital parking charges, stating that such charges, in essence, amounted to a tax on serious illness. Hospitals around the country are believed to earn up to £160 million per year by charging patients, relatives, and NHS staff for parking. Corbyn has now proposed to make up the shortfall that would result from the scrapping of parking charges by increasing the tax on private health cover by 20%.

He also reiterated that the NHS funding gap should not be bridged by charging patients, relatives, and NHS excessive parking fees.

The current Tory government has also been busy pledging to improve the health services, with the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, promising that a new Conservative government would employ an additional 10'000 mental health workers to deliver better mental health services by 2020.

Stating that the government had allocated a further £1billion to mental health services in January of this year, he emphasised that simply providing additional funding would not solve the crisis.

NHS row rumbles on

Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May have been at loggerheads about the NHS for a long time, and this row is set to gain weight against the backdrop of the general election.
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