When it comes to the NHS, neither party’s promises are based in reality
Many of us who work in the NHS continue to wonder just where all previous promises to rejuvenate this ailing and over-burdened healthcare system have ended up (PA Wire)
With 48 hours to go to polling day, the two main political parties’ manifestos for the NHS have gone largely unscrutinised, other than being mutually challenged for soundbites. Big things have been promised, most of them shrouded in layers of foggy obfuscation than in reality. The details of the manifestos are important even if they are not designed to be scrutinised.
The Labour manifesto shows a healthy dose of inexperience and naivety in my opinion. Proffering ambitious and well-meaning promises that are largely uncosted and lacking in detail. For example: how is it going to be possible to deliver an extra two million operations and appointments every year? The NHS in its current state has little or no extra capacity; nor the infrastructure, funds, staff or even hours in the day to achieve this.
Not only that, but junior doctors and other allied health staff will likely continue striking if their demands for better pay are not met – so where will Labour find the funding for “incentivising staff to carry out additional appointments out of hours”? Who are these staff members who will increase their burden of work outside of contracted hours? To run an extra operating theatre or a radiology imaging list will require the involvement of managers, administrative staff, multi-specialty doctors and nurses, allied theatre staff, radiographers and porters...
Then there are the Conservatives. How are the Tories going to find 92,000 more nurses and 28,000 more doctors by the end of the next parliament?
In the four years between 2017 and 2021, the number of licensed doctors increased by 17 per cent (41,021), approximately 10,000 per year on average. This growth has largely been due to international graduates entering and working in the UK. Projected growth rates for the medical workforce are contained within the GMC report; but there is no scenario that would see a workforce expansion sufficient to secure 28,000 new doctors within the coming year or even two, based on the projected 3 per cent rate of expansion.
In another section of the Tories’ manifesto for the NHS, they plan to cut bureaucracy by reducing the number of NHS managers to the tune of 5,500 people. While this might possibly release £500 million (although the math has not been shown), it seems unlikely that all of it will go to frontline services or for “streamlining oversight and accountability”, whatever that might mean.
On balance, like all political manifestos, the two main parties’ current offerings on the NHS are aimed at overhauling, rebooting, modernising and streamlining the NHS. This is not the first nor will it be the last time political parties have aspired to influence the electorate by rubbing the national NHS soft spot. Many of us who work in the NHS continue to wonder just where all previous promises to rejuvenate this ailing and over-burdened, but ultra-generous, healthcare system have ended up.
Dr Felix Chua
Address Provided
A return to sanity
I think most people believed that the possiblity of far-right governmental control in Europe would cease with Hungary. We now know that this plague has spread to Italy, the Netherlands and now France looks perilously close to succumbing as well.
On these shores, Nigel Farage and friends have been outmanoeuvring the Tories since before David Cameron was pressured into calling the disastrous Brexit referendum. Tragically, as each year passes, the collective memory loss of the 1930/40s grows and with many mainstream politicians only serving themselves, the dispossessed, powerless and angry are easily recruited.
We need a massive reset on Thursday and fingers crossed for a return to sanity over the Channel, sooner rather than later.
Robert Boston
Kent
Fact from fiction
Let’s be clear: we cannot afford to be complacent on the long-term threat of AI-generated misinformation.
Research ahead of the election showed 78 per cent of British voters feared that misinformation and deepfakes would interfere with our democratic process. Fortunately, we have not had a viral deepfake moment that’s caused widespread confusion so far.
But Channel 4: Dispatches‘ recent experiment to sway voters with deepfakes of prime minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer highlights the threat posed by effectively microtargeting people with misinformation. We must continue to be vigilant.
The Electoral Commission and Ofcom have both provided the public tips on spotting AI-generated misinformation. It is vital that government and industry work together to combat misinformation and develop tools to help people verify what they’re seeing and build trust. Only through working together can we empower people to better spot fact from fiction and protect the integrity of our elections.
Stefanie Valdés-Scott
Head of Policy and Government Relations EMEA at Adobe
Real reform
With the Tories desperately trying to create a new Project Fear over the idea of a Labour supermajority (however that might be defined), perhaps we should look at the utter mess arising out of Boris Johnson’s own supermajority from 2019.
That hasn’t exactly been good for the country, has it? It seems that most people are afraid of more of the same mess if the Tories are re-elected, and that is the key message from the polls. The best way to avoid having a government with too much unchecked power would be to reform the voting system in a way which encourages a more consensual approach to politics and thereby reduces the influence of vested interests at all levels.
We can but hope.
Charles Wood
Birmingham
An uphill struggle
The outcome of the general election on 4 July is considered now as a foregone conclusion. Everyone is expecting the Conservatives to endure a catastrophic defeat.
They have done little to solve multiple challenges that emanated from their 14 years in power. From Brexit to NHS waiting lists, the Windrush scandal, the immigration fiasco, homelessness, unemployment, housing shortages, child poverty, austerity measures and the upsurge of far-right parties. Regrettably, the Labour Party will have an uphill struggle to solve these insurmountable challenges.
Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London
In 2024, we shouldn’t have to argue a woman’s right to choose
I am writing to express my deep dismay at having received graphic and insensitive political propaganda distributed throughout the UK by the Vote Life party.
Vote Life are new to the political arena, a vehicle for the beliefs of anti-choice campaigner Christian Hacking. Hacking came to prominence in 2019 after being arrested for praying in front of Marie Stopes abortion clinic, and again in 2020 when his group displayed an image of an aborted foetus alongside a picture of Labour MP Stella Creasy, a vocal supporter of women’s right to choose, with the slogan “Stop Stella”. Creasy was pregnant at the time.
Vote Life’s website declares the party are fielding 22 candidates in various constituencies across the UK.
As a GP, I have a keen interest in safeguarding, women’s health and trauma-informed practice. I found the material promoted by Vote Life to be irresponsible in tone, offensive and triggering and lacks any regard for those who have undergone an abortion or are contemplating one. These leaflets evoke painful memories and exacerbate feelings of guilt, shame and trauma.
It is demoralising that in 2024 we are still having to argue this position and I genuinely worry for those who have recently had an abortion or miscarried. If they have received a leaflet from Vote Life, they will have been given biased information and traumatising images.
Vote Life stand on a single issue: anti-abortion, but apparently without any understanding of the complexity surrounding the issue and the myriad reasons that lead women to make the difficult decision to terminate. Worst of all, their dogmatic imperative lacks any empathy for people affected by abortion and the harm they are causing through their actions.
Dr Lisa Grundy
Devon