Jeremy Corbyn launches ‘Care for the NHS’ campaign to highlight government failures on healthcare

Leader of the Labour party demands extra money from Phillip Hammond for the health service

Jeremy Corbyn has kickstarted a campaign to shift public focus towards the NHS with activists taking part in more than 500 events across the country.

The “Care for the NHS” campaign aims to highlight the failures of the Government on the health service following its apparent absence from the Autumn Statement.

The campaign is set to be a priority over the winter period for Labour, as Mr Corbyn demanded extra money from Phillip Hammond for the NHS.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Mr Corbyn said: “The Conservatives are failing our health service, which has been pushed into financial crisis and soaring deficits.

“Patients are facing longer waits, with hospitals overcrowded, understaffed and threatened with closure. Labour will stand up for the NHS. We will always make sure the NHS has the funding it needs and will join up services from home to hospital with a properly integrated health and social care service.

“Labour created the NHS to care for us all, now it is time to care for the NHS,” he added.

The launch has received very little media coverage, with only the Guardian, the Huffington Post and the Morning Star seemingly covering the event.

When contacted by The Independent, Labour would not comment on whether it felt the event had received the level of coverage it had hoped for.

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said that the Autumn Statement made it clear the NHS was “at the back of the queue” for the Government.

“It is jaw-dropping that when the NHS is facing the biggest financial squeeze in its history - when waiting lists are at four million, when A&Es are in crisis – that the Autumn Statement contained not a single penny piece of extra investment for social care and the NHS.

“Instead the Conservatives have ignored the chorus of voices pleading for them to address the mess they have created in social care with cuts to budgets of £4.5 billion. The crisis in social care is such that thousands more older and disabled people face being left without access to services,” Mr Ashworth said.