Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused Prime Minister Theresa May to be in ‘denial about the state of the NHS’.
‘Starved of resources’
During the Prime Minister’s questions today (24 January), Theresa May faced Jeremy Corbyn backlash on the underfunding of the NHS.
Mr Corbyn said that ‘the NHS needs support and money and it needs it now’.
Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused Prime Minister Theresa May to be in ‘denial about the state of the NHS’.
‘Starved of resources’
During the Prime Minister’s questions today (24 January), Theresa May faced Jeremy Corbyn backlash on the underfunding of the NHS.
Mr Corbyn said that ‘the NHS needs support and money and it needs it now’.
He said: ‘The Prime Minister is frankly in denial about the state of the NHS.
‘People using the NHS can see from their own experience that it’s been starved of resources.
‘People are dying unnecessarily in the back of ambulances and in hospital’s corridors.
‘GPs numbers are down, nurses are leaving, the NHS is in crisis.
‘When is the Prime Minister going to face up reality and take action to save the NHS from death by a thousand cuts?’
Call for extra cash
It has been widely reported that foreign secretary Boris Johnson asked for weekly extra funding to be injected into the NHS after Brexit.
Healthcare Leadercontacted the Conservative party for more clarity.
When Mr Corbyn asked the Prime Minister if ‘she agreed with foreign secretary Boris Johnson that the NHS needs an extra £5bn’, she answered ‘the Government would be putting an extra £6bn into the NHS’, as announced in the Budget 2017.
But Mr Corbyn said it was £2.8bn, spread ‘like thin gruel ’over two years.
In November 2017, the King’s Fund, Nuffield trust and the Health Foundation agreed that the NHS needed at least £4bn to stop patient care deteriorating next year.
Since the NHS was established in 1948, health spending has grown by an average of 4% per year.
But between 2009–10 and 2015-16, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) budget grew by only 1.2% a year, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
Ms May argued that, the NHS was better prepared this winter than ever before, with 2.8 million more people seen in A&E a year than in 2010.
‘Serious safety concerns’
In December 2017, the NHS recorded its worst ever A&E performances, which may be worse as the figures ‘have been fiddled’, said Mr Corbyn.
On 10 January, 68 consultants in emergency department wrote a letter, warning Theresa May of ‘serious patient safety concerns’.
Ms May said: ‘Our NHS is providing for patients. There were winter pressures – and we were prepared for winter pressure – and we’ll ensure, as we have done every year under this Conservative government, that the NHS receive more funding.
