Patients will be able to choose where and when they get treatment using a ‘revolutionised’ NHS app as part of Labour’s plans to cut waiting lists.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting will publish proposals to change how people choose health providers – including in the private sector as an NHS patient – book appointments and receive test results.
And he bragged that bringing the analogue NHS into the digital age would give ‘working-class patients’ the same treatment options as the wealthy.
Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Streeting will disclose the most recent announcement in the government’s NHS Elective Reform Plan.
As revealed by the Daily Mail, there will also be plans to tell GPs to refer patients directly for scans and treatment to speed up access to care.
There is mounting concern among senior Labour figures that they must start delivering improvements to the health service – including cutting waiting lists.
And last night Tory health spokesman Ed Argar said: ‘Labour promised reform, now patients are clear, it’s time they actually delivered it.’
The impact of winter viruses and the flu is also putting a lot of strain on the NHS. According to NHS officials, the app will provide patients more control over when and how they receive non-emergency care when combined with other innovations.
The NHS app upgrades will allow patients to:
- View and manage appointments at a time and place that is convenient to them, reducing missed appointments.
- Choose from a wide range of providers, including in the independent sector.
- Book diagnostic tests at convenient locations, such as Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) in a local shopping centre.
- Receive test results quickly through the app before choosing the next step – whether that is a remote consultation or surgery – at a convenient time and location.
As a first step, in March, patients at more than 85 percent of acute trusts can view appointment details through the NHS app.
Government sources said that patients would be offered five treatment ‘providers’ or hospitals to choose from, including an independent sector provider where capacity allows.
Mr Streeting said last night: ‘If the wealthy can choose where and when they are treated, then working-class patients should be able to, and this Government will give them that choice.
‘Our plan will reform the NHS so patients are fully informed every step of the way through their care, are given a proper choice to go to a different provider for a shorter wait and put in control of their own healthcare.
‘This Government’s reform agenda will take the NHS from a one-size-fits-all, top-down, like-it-or-lump-it service, to a modern service that puts patients in the driving seat and treats them on time – delivering on our Plan for Change to drive a decade of national renewal.’
But last night, the Health Secretary was condemned by the Tories for his reference to giving ‘working-class patients’ the same treatment choices as well-off people.
Tory MP Greg Stafford, a member of the Commons health and social care committee, told the Mail on Sunday: ‘Wes Streeting should be improving the NHS for all those who need it rather than using class war rhetoric to sow division or put ideology at the heart of yet another Labour policy.’
Right now, people are lying in a hospital bed after spending 20 hours on a trolley in A&E waiting for a hospital bed to become available. The wards are completely full, and the weary staff are run off their feet because there are not enough beds to accommodate patients admitted from A&E, and also A&E is rammed because people cannot get a GP appointment.
And why is this? Could it be that the population has increased, and no new NHS app can hide the fact that the UK’s population is growing beyond its capacity and the NHS can’t cope? It’s not apps that we need, it’s sensible immigration control.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 