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Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to “take on” opposition to radical changes to the NHS, saying tough and unpopular changes are needed before he gets more money from the government.
The prime minister said the health service needed “major surgery, not sticking plasters” and repairs could take a decade or more.
Infuriated by the union, he said he was not prepared to spend more money when the system paid huge sums to agency workers, adding: “We have to fix the pipes before we turn on the taps.”
“I’m not ready to see more of your money spent on agency staff costing £5,000 per shift, on appointment letters that come after appointments, or paying people who are stuck in hospital just because they can’t get the care they need in the community,” he said. .
As he spoke, the minister announced a clampdown on junk food advertising in a bid to reduce obesity rates and reduce the burden on the NHS. From October next year, online advertising will be banned altogether, and TV ads will be shown only after the 9pm water mark.
But critics question how well Labor is prepared. Former Tory health minister Lord Bethell told The Independent: “You can’t be serious about prevention and abolishing the sugar tax on the same day.”
Sir Keir’s comments, in a speech to the King’s Fund think tank, followed an independent review which found the NHS in a “critical state” with some of the worst cancer survival rates in the Western world.
Finished in nine weeks by Ara Darzi, surgeon and independent peer, blamed the choice made by the last Conservative government and warned it would take years to fix.
Government sources deny the reforms mean more privatisation, saying the Darzi report is clear about how much money is being spent on the NHS and in the wrong places.
Health secretary Wes Streeting has previously announced plans to use the private sector to help cut NHS delays, and attacked the “middle-class left” who oppose the move, saying it risks putting ideological purity before patient care.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Streeting said doctors’ leaders at the British Medical Association (BMA) needed to stop “sabre-rattling” and work with ministers.
The “unnecessary threat” of action by the organization’s GPs “will harm patients”, he said.
Leading scientist Professor Sir John Bell also attacked doctors at the BMA, saying they were “a major drag on health reform”.
Setting out a broad vision for reform, Sir Keir said the 10-year plan would include changing it into an “environmental health service”.
This means “more tests, scans, healthcare offered on the high street and town centre, better GP access, bringing back family doctors, offering digital consultations to those who want them, virtual wards and more patients who is kept safe in his own home. we can solve the problem early before he gets sick at work and before he has to go to the hospital”.
They also promised to improve productivity in hospitals, giving them a greater role in disease prevention.
He said the increased use of technology, including to speed up test results in A&E, was one area where improving services was not about piling on more money each year, he said.
He also pledged to continue the last Tory government’s new hospital building programme.
But while he warned that it would not be possible to build the NHS for the future without reforming social care, there was no detail on how that would be achieved.
He said: “Reform does not mean just putting in more money… so, listen to me when I say this, there is no more money without reform.”
She said she was “absolutely shocked” to learn how many young children are admitted to hospital each year to have their teeth removed – something that could have been prevented.
“I know some preventive measures will be controversial, but I am ready to be bold even in the face of opposition,” he said.
Former Tory minister Dame Harriett Baldwin criticized Sir Keir’s comments in the wake of cutting future fuel payments for millions of pensioners, saying the move would hurt “bed capacity over the coming winter in our NHS”.
And Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Daisy Cooper warned that social care was the “elephant in the room” that was not addressed in the speech.
But Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents trusts, said the NHS was “down but not out”.
“As the Prime Minister said today, we cannot continue like this. To build an NHS fit for the future, the NHS must work differently and faster and faster to improve patient care.
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of health think tank The King’s Fund said the government “now needs to draw up a detailed strategy for reform. The plan should model how greater investment in primary and community services will take place.
