Starmer Would Go Back to Blair Targets.

The National Health Service as envisaged and enacted by the Labour government of 1945 was a revolution. Free health care for all was the mantra of the new Labour government. The 1945 general election brought Labour to power after WWII because the people wanted something different.

After living through the horrors of the war under Winston Churchill people wanted something else. Something new for those returning home from the war. So much to Churchill's shock, the Tories were booted out of office. Labour was set on a programme once in government to make a better Britain after years of rations and war.

Introducing the welfare state where people would be able to access government benefits. Designed as a safety net for those out of work. Also the founding of the National Health Service with free care for all. No matter who you were or your background. Before that people had to have insurance say at work (where you'd pay into it should you fall ill). Teams of dedicated nurses, doctors, etc, were recruited. The NHS has been the pride of Britain for years and is most probably unique in the world.

However, over a number of years, the NHS has fallen behind and is falling behind. Both Conservative and Labour governments were quite happy to have an NHS run on 1940s lines to continue in that way. None of them really invested to make sure the NHS was fit for purpose in the decades following the 1940s.

Labour was the founder of the NHS and things didn't seem so bad when Labour was in power. However, nothing is perfect and even under Tony Blair things were not perfect. However, statistically speaking things back then were not as bad as they are now. Blair gets slammed for many things but he introduced targets to bring down waiting lists for example. You didn't have to wait 3 hours for an ambulance to arrive. When the Conservatives were returned to power in 2010 that's when NHS problems began leading to today. The Tories always say "the NHS is always safe" in their hands. No doubt, many Tories do support the concept of the NHS. However, many accuse the Tories of wanting to openly or stealthily privatise the NHS. Or totally dismantle it altogether. Labour did privatise some aspects of the NHS but not to the proportions the Conservatives want to or have.

One sees many ads for private hospitals. One cannot help but think with the NHS in crisis this is where the private sector health care comes in. Many will use private health (if they can afford it) to jump NHS waiting lists for treatment (and who can blame them). However, pushing private health care more and more is something many Tories support. Many private hospitals do offer lower payments for poorer people. NHS patients are treated in private hospitals if need be. The private sector should indeed shoulder NHS patients. How the private sector is paid for helping the NHS I cannot say.

Privatisation is creeping in stealthily despite the government denying it. For example, my daughter works for the 111 services where callers can ring up and speak to NHS workers. However, my daughter's job has been taken over by a private company and that is who she is working for now. In other words, technically she still works for the NHS but is working for a private company the NHS has hired. If this isn't privatisation by the back door then what is?

Sir Keir Starmer has been holding Sunak to account on account of the NHS. Sir Keir said to manage the problems the NHS has (and they are varied) he would go back to Tony Blair-style management systems.

Especially those on waiting lists waiting for crucial treatment. Sir Keir said the Tories had been "overseeing a cycle" of decline in the health service.

When Labour come to power next year (if polls are correct) a huge undertaking of changing the NHS from top to bottom (or bottom to top) is planned.

Let us hope these changes if Labour gets the chance are the changes that the NHS needs. Not only for a broken system stuck in the 1940s but for NHS staff and the people they serve.