Key points:
- Green Party previews manifesto with extra spending on health and social care rising to over £50bn per year by 2030
- This sits alongside an additional £20bn capital investment to bring crumbling hospitals, primary care buildings and outdated equipment up to modern standards
- Greens will increase NHS frontline workers’ salaries including doctors, dentists and nurses
- Greens offer “cast-iron Green guarantee” that Green MPs will fight privatisation of the NHS
The Green Party will today set out a package worth £30bn per year for the English National Health Service by 2030 – more than any other major political party. The result will see NHS frontline workers’ salaries increased, guaranteeing rapid access to a GP and same day access in case of urgent need, and giving everyone access to an NHS dentist. A combined package that they say will restore the dignity of both staff and patients.
The package also includes an additional £20 billion a year commitment to social care to ensure dignity for those in need and to end the pressure on the NHS from a broken care system.
This £50 billion health and social care offer will sit alongside al £20bn capital investment to bring crumbling hospitals and outdated equipment up to modern standards.
Taken together they are part of a cast-iron Green guarantee to a fully funded fully public National Health Service. Green MPs will continue to fight the privatisation of the NHS at every stage – a commitment no other party is making.
Commenting, Green Party Co-Leader Adrian Ramsay said,
“Our NHS is at breaking point following 14 years of underfunding. Patients are stuck in hospital corridors, people can’t see their GP or NHS dentist when they need to and staff are severely overstretched.
“Greens believe passionately in the NHS and we are the only party to be honest with the public that it’s going to cost money to nurse the NHS back to health after 14 years of Conservative damage.
“Not just by shifting a small pot around, but by asking the very richest in our society to pay a modest amount more in tax to fund the investment we need to nurse the NHS back to health.
“Our plans are credible, deliverable and fully funded.
“With the political will and a fairer, greener tax system we can offer real hope and real change for the NHS we all treasure.
“With more Greens in the next Parliament we will press the new government to take the action needed to restore our NHS.”
The Green Party Co-Leader Carla Denyer added,
“We all know the importance of the NHS.
“But it is only the Greens who are offering a cast-iron guarantee to push back against the creeping privatisation of the NHS.
“In contrast, Wes Streeting, the Shadow Health Secretary, said he would “hold the door wide open” to an increased role for the private sector in our precious NHS.
“Our Green guarantee to protect the NHS from privatisation, combined with today’s announcement, represents a game-changing offer for our National Health Service that will restore the dignity of staff and patients alike.
“It offers real change from the managed decline of recent years and offers real hope to all of us who rely on the NHS.”
Green Party Health, Social Care and Public Health spokesperson and GP, Pallavi Devulapalli added,
“I’ve seen first-hand the impact years of underinvestment and managed decline has had on the NHS and the service received by the patients.
“It breaks my heart when patients come into my surgery and I know they won’t get the care they need in a timely manner.
“But it doesn’t have to be like this.
“With the political will we can have an NHS that puts the patient first and ensures world beating quality of care.
“But for this to happen we need the investment and that’s why I am so proud of The Green Party for being honest and brave enough to say not just what needs to happen, but how we can afford to make it happen.
If you want real change and real hope in the NHS there is one party that is offering to make that a reality”
