Labour Party Zoom Meeting on NHS with Wes Streeting, Health Secretary

I was invited to join this Labour Party Zoom meeting about the NHS with a presentation by Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health.

Wes talked about how the NHS has been at the centre of this country’s politics since its formation in 1948. He spoke of the dangers of Reform and Nigel Farage and his ideas on an insurance based healthcare system in the United Kingdom. He speaks of the danger of expelling foreigners as Farage plans and how it would affect many key NHS workers.

Labour has promised to employ 1000 more GPs – they have by now employed over 2000 of them. There is an increase in Mental Health workers. Waiting lists are down. Labour are delivering on their promises.

In Labour led Wales, waiting lists are down. In Labour England waiting lists also down – yet in Scotland under the SNP, waiting lists are up. Wes talks of how essential it is to ensure that Labour hold onto power here in Wales. He wants to make Labour’s NHS a Great British success story.

There is a ten year Labour plan that will empower patients and give them more rights. Patients will have more power and more choice. AI will be empowered and used to enhance treatment by NHS staff. We have to make sure the technological revolution benefits the many and not the few. New online services have to be accessible by the public. The NHS is a neighbourhood service and not just a national service.

Social justice should be addressed so that everyone benefits from the NHS. Carers Allowance is set to be increased to help out in that sector.

Wes credits Angela Rayner for making many of the adjustments that have led to the NHS improvements.

Wes Streeting thanked us members for the support we are giving and the support that is being built. He calls out for our help in ensuring Welsh Labour achieve success in their forthcoming Senedd elections. He wants to build a country that we can all be more proud of.

Wes answered some questions on mental health and said that the Mental Health Reform Bill had now gone through Parliament and was being assessed by the House of Lords. He says that so much has been done in mental health but that there was a lot more still to do.

He says that we will privatise the NHS over his dead body. He said he is proud of the NHS being free at the point of use. These are Labour values and values for the United Kingdom.

He says he is excited about Labour’s prospects in the Scottish elections. He wants to put the wind into Scottish Labour’s sails by referring them to the success of what is happening down in England.

Regarding the long term Labour Party plans to improve social care: To increase Carers Allowance which has happened already. Longer term he wants to build a national care service that is worthy of its name. He wants to be able to look after any disabled people or older people whose physical health deteriorates. He wants to make sure that as people live longer, he want disabled people not just to survive but to thrive. He wants to socialise the risk and socialise the cost. A radical model is needed, a commission on social care has been set up. There is not a shortage of ideas, there has just been a shortage of good politics. This side of a general election he wants to break the cycle of bad politics. Ideally, he wants to take the politics out of social care and to create a national consensus. People should live life to the full to the very end. He hopes that with the right support in place we can change the entire convewrsation on what it is to be disabled. He wants a society where people can achieve their full potential.

Wes ended on the note that governments are always going to make mistakes and it is not always going to be plain sailing, but he wouldn’t swap his position over the last fifteen months as part of a Labour government in power. He is proud of the work that has been done and will continue to be done so that social justice can be brought to all. He wants everyone to have the same opportunity and that not just the privileged few get those opportunities. The Labour governemnt is here to deliver change and he hopes that the governemnt will not just be a one term wonder.