waiting lists

How long do we have to wait for action on Britain’s dentistry crisis?

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/how-long-do-we-have-wait-action-britains-dentistry-crisis

Toothless in England campaigners for NHS dentistry

MARK JONES of Toothless in England says the devastating report from MPs on Britain’s worsening dental crisis shows we need immediate action — and explains what must be done

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Over the past four years, Toothless in England has highlighted the deepening crisis in NHS dentistry, exposing the profound suffering of patients and the apparent lack of resolve from successive governments and NHS England to address the dental crisis. Despite some policy promises, the plight of dental patients remains dire in 2025, with access to care still elusive for many, perpetuating a public health emergency that affects both individuals and society at large.

Dental patients continue to suffer in 2025, a stark reminder of the government and NHS England’s failure to deliver systemic change. The statistics are grim: up to 97 per cent of new patients seeking NHS dental care are turned away, and 90 per cent of practices are not accepting new adult NHS patients. Waiting lists stretch to years, forcing desperate measures — with some patients resorting to DIY dentistry with pliers, while others travel abroad for “affordable” treatment.

Stories abound of crumbling teeth, chronic pain, untreated infections, deaths caused by dental sepsis and undiagnosed mouth cancers, with vulnerable groups like the elderly and low-income families hit hardest. For instance, cancer patients face delays in life-saving treatments due to inaccessible dental check-ups, a ripple effect Toothless has repeatedly highlighted.

The consequences extend beyond oral health. Untreated dental issues cost the economy through lost productivity, burden A&E departments with non-dental emergencies, and widen health inequalities.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/how-long-do-we-have-wait-action-britains-dentistry-crisis

Continue ReadingHow long do we have to wait for action on Britain’s dentistry crisis?

Morning Star Editorial: Starmer’s private healthcare fixation puts ideology before patients

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmers-private-healthcare-fixation-puts-ideology-patients

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to medical staff and media during a visit to Elective Orthopaedic Centre in Epsom, Surrey, to highlight his ‘plan for change’ commitments on health, January 6, 2025

KEIR STARMER says he is expanding NHS dependence on the private sector because he is “not interested in putting ideology before patients.”

But continuing to increase outsourcing of NHS care to private providers ignores the evidence of the last decade and puts corporate profit, not patients, first.

Labour’s plans for the NHS represent continuity with Tory policy, not change.

The number of procedures outsourced by the NHS has steadily grown since 2014, without any discernible impact on waiting lists, which have soared in the same period.

Private hospitals have claimed an ever greater share of routine operations, now performing about a quarter of hip and knee replacements and the same proportion of cataract removals: extracting sizeable profits on simple operations which would cost less in-house.

In the process, they undermine the NHS’s capacity to deliver such treatments. Most medics working in the private sector also carry out work for the NHS, while private providers are constantly seeking to recruit more NHS staff: the greater the demand for private operations, the greater the drain on the NHS workforce. Outsourcing is not driven simply by need but by greed: with higher rates available in the private sector, some doctors have an incentive to refer patients for private treatment at public expense.

Starmer wants to raise the number of privately provided operations by another 20 per cent. But with a shared workforce, this could mean the NHS paying more for the same number of procedures rather than slashing waiting lists.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmers-private-healthcare-fixation-puts-ideology-patients

Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Starmer’s private healthcare fixation puts ideology before patients

Starmer plans to ‘embed profit-seeking parasites’ into NHS, campaigners warn

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-plans-to-embed-profit-seeking-parasites-into-nhs-campaigners-warn

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (centre) and Health Secretary Wes Streeting (left), with NHS CEO Amanda Pritchard (right) during a visit to Elective Orthopaedic Centre in Epsom, Surrey, to highlight his ‘plan for change’ commitments on health, January 6, 2025

TARGETING a 20 per cent increase in the use of the private sector to cut waiting lists risks “permanently embedding the profit-taking parasite” into the health service, campaigners have warned.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer claimed he is “not interested in putting ideology before patients” as he unveiled the NHS’s growing use of private healthcare in a major speech today.

Private operators will receive an extra £2.5 billion a year in government funding under his new elective reform plan to address a waiting list for planned care on which 6.4 million people are waiting for 7.5m treatments.

This amounts to as many as a million extra appointments, scans and operations a year by the for-profit sector, with the official aim of patients no longer having to wait more than 18 weeks for non-urgent hospital care by spring 2029.

During his speech in Surrey, the prime minister acknowledged some people will “not like” expansion of the private sector in the NHS, but said: “To cut waiting times as dramatically as possible, our approach must be totally unburdened by dogma.”

Keep Our NHS Public co-chair Dr Tony O’Sullivan said: “The commitment of Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting to long-term contracts with the private sector threatens to permanently embed the profit-taking parasite in the NHS host, undermining the prospect of NHS recovery as a publicly provided universal service meeting the needs of the population.

“Starmer says he will ‘not let ideology stand in the way’ but it is their ideological choice that will stand in the way of sustainable NHS recovery.

“Safe and prompt community care will only be delivered through an urgent expansion of skilled staff.”

We Own It lead campaigner Johnbosco Nwogbo said: “Using the private sector to cut waiting lists was the centrepiece of the Conservative government’s Elective Recovery Plan in February 2022, but waiting lists kept going up.

“Starmer’s ‘new’ initiative looks suspiciously similar to the Conservatives’ failed plan.

“Hospitals are crumbling while the NHS is haemorrhaging at least £10m a week to private shareholder profits — money which could build a new operating theatre every week.

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-plans-to-embed-profit-seeking-parasites-into-nhs-campaigners-warn

Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the "hard times".
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.

Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.

Continue ReadingStarmer plans to ‘embed profit-seeking parasites’ into NHS, campaigners warn

NHS bosses reportedly worried about Starmer’s pledge to cut waiting lists

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/02/cut-nhs-waiting-lists-keir-starmer

Keir Starmer and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who has promised an extra £22bn to help cut NHS waiting times, at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire on 31 October. Photograph: Darren Staples/AP

NHS bosses are said to be privately concerned about Keir Starmer’s ambitious targets to cut waiting lists for routine operations, set to be announced later this week, which will also include specific targets on living standards and housebuilding.

The prime minister is expected on Thursday to set a target for 92% of routine operations and appointments in England to be carried out within 18 weeks by March 2029 – a goal that has not been achieved in almost a decade – the Times has reported.

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Most NHS trust bosses doubt the health service can restore key waiting times by 2029. A recent survey by the hospitals body NHS Providers found that 71% of the leaders overall, and 100% of those who run acute and ambulance trusts, thought it unlikely that they could make such progress that quickly.

The Society for Acute Medicine (SAM), which represents hospital doctors, said Starmer’s desire for a return to 92% of patients waiting a maximum of 18 weeks, four months before the end of this parliament, was “doomed” unless overstretched NHS urgent and emergency care services, such as A&E and ambulance services, were dramatically improved.

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/02/cut-nhs-waiting-lists-keir-starmer

Continue ReadingNHS bosses reportedly worried about Starmer’s pledge to cut waiting lists

Tens of thousands sign Vote for Homes letter calling on political leaders to rebuild UK’s ‘broken housing system’

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/06/tens-of-thousands-sign-vote-for-homes-letter-calling-on-political-leaders-to-rebuild-uks-broken-housing-system/

‘Great stories begin in social homes. But we’re living in a housing emergency, and we need to build more. Now.’

In England alone, 1.3 million households are stuck on waiting lists for housing. 145,800 children are growing up in temporary accommodation. During the last decade, 19,000 social rent homes have been lost every year. 90,000 social homes need to be built every year for the next ten years to end the housing emergency.

These alarming statistics are provided by the housing and homelessness charity Shelter. The research, carried out by Shelter and the National Housing Federation, found that the building of 90,000 social homes a year would pay for itself within three years, add over £50bn to the economy over 30 years, and support 140k direct jobs in the first year.

In the run-up to the general election, the charity has launched a Vote for Home campaign. Over 35,000 people have already put their signature to a letter calling on political leaders to fix the country’s housing crisis by building new social homes.

It urges Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer, Ed Davey, Carla Denya, and Adrian Ramsey to build social homes and “create a fairer renting system that will end the housing emergency.”

The letter notes how none of the leaders have promised to prioritise fixing the housing emergency.  

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/06/tens-of-thousands-sign-vote-for-homes-letter-calling-on-political-leaders-to-rebuild-uks-broken-housing-system/

Continue ReadingTens of thousands sign Vote for Homes letter calling on political leaders to rebuild UK’s ‘broken housing system’