David Cameron “Tories Are the Party of the NHS”

The Conservative are the “party of the NHS”, Tory leader David Cameron says, while Labour is “out-of-touch and bureaucratic”, BBC News Online reports.

The Tory leader has pledged to increase spending on health during a speech in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

Cameron said this is in a bid to recover from the fallout of Tory MEP Daniel Hannan’s appearance on US TV, where he claimed the NHS had been a “60-year mistake”.

Cameron said only the Tories are offering the NHS a funding guarantee.

“Spending on the NHS cannot stand still, because standing still would be taking a step backwards,” He said during his NHS hospital visit in north-west of England. “That is why we have pledged real-terms increases in NHS spending,” as reported by the Guardian.

On the other hand, “Labour”, said Mr. Cameron “could not be trusted to keep their promises” on the health service.

During the speech Mr. Cameron made in Manchester, he said Labour is mistakenly praising “political point-scoring” instead of addressing the serious issues. He further said its health service reforms had “come to the end of the line”.

He said he is concerned that spending can not stand still in the face of an ageing population and medical advances, according to the BBC News Online.

“The debt crisis means we need a new approach to public spending, to make sure we get more for less. But in the NHS, even that won’t do,” said Mr. Cameron.

Cameron has pledged that spending will, at the very least, rise in line with inflation from 2011- 14 if the Tories win the next election.

He also argued that spending alone cannot protect the NHS. It will need an intensification of reforms to cope with an ageing population.

“Our health service is crying out for the next stage of change. I believe we have shown that we are the ones to bring about that change, and that we have earned the right to call ourselves the party of the NHS today. We believe in the NHS. We understand the pressures it faces.”

He then continued to say that Tory reforms would be focusing on making the supply of healthcare more efficient and reducing demand for the NHS through more preventive care.

“The power of competition – an opening up of the NHS to news providers – will bring innovation and investment. And the power of choice – the ability for people to control what service they get – will lead to better quality care.”

These reforms will create a more user-friendly and efficient NHS that both meets patient expectations and restores professional responsibility, says the Guardian.

20/08/09