‘This is my passion’: Health inequalities must be better tackled in UK, says Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth

Shadow health secretary was speaking during an Independent Premium webinar on the future of the NHS after Covid-19

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, has said he believes more needs to be done to tackle wider inequality in the UK which contributes to poorer health and impacts on the NHS.

Speaking during an Independent Premium webinar about the future of the NHS after the coronavirus pandemic, the Labour MP for Leicester south said his ambition went beyond just pouring money into the NHS.

He appeared on the webinar with Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust think tank, Rachel Power from the Patients Association and The Independent’s health correspondent Shaun Lintern.

Asked by The Independent’s editor Christian Broughton what his key priority for the health service was in the future Mr Ashworth said: “This is my big passion as someone who aspires to be health secretary. I don’t just want to be health secretary to put more money into the NHS, although I want to do that obviously. But I really want to tackle these wider determinants of ill-health."

He added: “I would be much more interventionist. I would extend the sugar tax to things like milkshakes and take a stronger line on alcohol. I would invest more in health visiting services.”

He added the closure of local Sure Start centres, while not a health policy, had been "disastrous” for children’s longer term health outcomes.

His comments follow the publication of a major report earlier this year showing that life expectancy in some groups during the decade of austerity had gone backwards.

The panel discussed the effect of the pandemic on the NHS following an investigation by The Independent at the weekend which revealed waiting lists could rise to 10 million people later this year. Hospitals are being forced to run at reduced capacity.

Nigel Edwards from the Nuffield Trust warned there was a very real risk that the NHS would lack the resources to cope with the pressure, and that some services may have to be rationed or reduced.

Rachel Power said the Patients Association had heard multiple complaints from patients over a lack of information and involvement in decision making and that patients needed to be given more support as many faced longer waits.