Labour warns against scrapping NHS targets

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said ministers should be ‘cutting waiting times, not cutting standards’.

The majority of NHS England’s targets could reportedly be scrapped (PA) (PA Wire)

Rishi Sunak’s Government has been warned by Labour not to scrap NHS targets following reports the majority of the benchmarks could be axed.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the answer to the problems faced by the NHS was “cutting waiting times, not cutting standards for patients”.

The i newspaper reported that the majority of England’s targets would be scrapped, with a greater emphasis on local management of the healthcare system along similar lines to schools.

Mr Streeting said: “After years of failing to meet basic standards for patients, the Government is now looking to water down or scrap standards altogether. The answer is cutting waiting times, not cutting standards for patients.

“It is a disgrace that patients are spending 24 hours in A&E, suspected heart attack and stroke victims are waiting around an hour for an ambulance, and that patients have waited longer for cancer care every year since 2010.

“The next Labour government will agree a plan with the NHS to bring down waiting times to safe and acceptable levels, and begin working towards them straight away.

“At the heart of that plan will be our pledge to train a new generation of doctors and nurses, paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax status.”

The i reported that a Government-commissioned review, led by former Labour health secretary Patricia Hewitt, is expected to recommend that most targets faced by health service bosses and GPs should be axed, giving local leaders greater autonomy.

The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment on the report.

When the Hewitt review was announced in November, it was given the task of exploring how to “empower local leaders” including by “reducing the number of national targets”.

An initial draft of Ms Hewitt’s report is expected by the end of January, with a final version by mid-March.