Our Plan to Save the NHS

Motion as passed by conference

Conference notes that:

1. The UK's population is ageing and that has a profound impact on how we design our health and care services.
2. The United Kingdom is lagging behind its peers when it comes to people's health - it is 29th in the global obesity rankings, has the worst healthy life expectancy in Western Europe, and according to one study has the worst mental health in the world.
3. The Conservatives have hollowed out community services like GPs, dentists and mental health, public health and social care leading to people seeking care in far more expensive urgent and emergency settings.
4. Health inequalities have become more stark.
5. There are still more than 6 million people on NHS hospital waiting lists, double the number since 2015.
6. The number of fully qualified GPs in England has fallen by almost 500 since 2019, despite the previous Conservative government's promise to increase the number by 6,000.
7. More than 100,000 patients in the last year waited longer than the NHS target of 62 days to start urgent cancer treatment - the worst on record.
8. 9 in 10 dental practices are no longer accepting new patients and people are being forced to spend hundreds if not thousands on private dental care with some even resorting to DIY dentistry.
9. Half a million people are on waiting lists for care in residential settings or at home and one in 10 care staff positions are vacant.
10. On average, patients have to wait more than half an hour for an ambulance to respond to emergencies such as heart attacks or strokes.
11. Over 1.35 million (53%) of those inactive because of long-term sickness reported that they had a mental health condition such as depression or anxiety and the cost to the UK of poor mental health is estimated to total £120bn every year.
12. There are huge vacancies across the NHS and social care, and retention rates are poor too.
13. The NHS estate is facing a record £12 billion backlog of repairs and the primary care estate and mental health estate is in need of significant upgrading too.
14. The new Labour government has brought forward only two pieces of legislation on health for this parliamentary session, and none on social care.

Conference believes that:

1. The previous Conservative government ran our NHS into the ground, neglected health and care services, and let patients down.
2. Health and wealth are two sides of the same coin.
3. Enabling people to access the health care they need as soon as they need it, is not only better for health outcomes, it's also better for the public purse.
4. Adopting an 'invest to save' approach will drive investment in community services and help shift the focus to prevention.
5. Improving the health of the nation is just as important as providing access to health care when people need it.
6. Mental health should be put on the same footing as physical health.
7. Community-based care in non-institutional environments should be expanded where appropriate - physical health checks in pharmacies as well as community mental health provision are important pillars of modern health services that are efficient, preventative, and accessible to all communities, involving the right professionals in the right spaces.
8. The NHS cannot be fixed unless social care is fixed too, and reform cannot wait any longer.

Conference calls on the new government to:

1. Bring forward a plan to save GP services including increasing the number of full-time equivalent GPs by 8,000 to ensure everyone has the right to see a GP within seven days, or within 24 hours if they urgently need to.
2. End DIY dentistry and 'dental deserts' by guaranteeing access to an NHS dentist for everyone needing urgent and emergency care, and fixing the broken NHS dental contract to bring dentists back to the NHS from the private sector.
3. Boost cancer survival rates and introduce a guarantee for 100% of patients to start treatment for cancer within 62 days from urgent referral.
4. Increase the Public Health Grant so that local authorities can improve the health of their communities and prevent ill health.
5. Fix the life-threatening crisis in our ambulance services by ending excessive handover delays and increasing the number of staffed hospital beds.
6. Improve early access to mental health services by establishing walk-in mental health hubs for young people in every community and introducing regular mental health check-ups at key points in people's lives.
7. Prioritise the proposed bill brought forward in the King's Speech to finally reform the Mental Health Act.
8. Implement a ten-year plan to invest in hospitals and the primary care and mental health estate and IT systems to move from the scandal of crumbling roofs, dangerous concrete, life-expired buildings; and after 'bulidings' insert 'and incompatible, failing digital infrastructure and therapeutic environments that promote recovery.
9. Introduce free personal care, a higher Carer's Minimum Wage, and a workforce plan for social care and to provide sufficient funding to local authorities to cover the increased costs of social care resulting from these measures.
10. To introduce a fair funding deal for hospices and to include palliative and end of life care services in priorities and planning guidance for the NHS to ensure a whole system response to the growing need for these services.
11. Provide the resources and support for cross-party talks so that they can report as soon as possible and well before the most common time of between two and four years.

Applicability: England only.

Motion prior to amendment

Submitted by: 10 party members
Mover: Daisy Cooper MP (Spokesperson for Health and Care)
Summation: TBA

Conference notes that:

1. The UK's population is ageing and that has a profound impact on how we design our health and care services.
2. The United Kingdom is lagging behind its peers when it comes to people's health - it is 29th in the global obesity rankings, has the worst healthy life expectancy in Western Europe, and according to one study has the worst mental health in the world.
3. The Conservatives have hollowed out community services like GPs, dentists and mental health, public health and social care leading to people seeking care in far more expensive urgent and emergency settings.
4. Health inequalities have become more stark.
5. There are still more than 6 million people on NHS hospital waiting lists, double the number since 2015.
6. The number of fully qualified GPs in England has fallen by almost 500 since 2019, despite the previous Conservative government's promise to increase the number by 6,000.
7. More than 100,000 patients in the last year waited longer than the NHS target of 62 days to start urgent cancer treatment - the worst on record.
8. 9 in 10 dental practices are no longer accepting new patients and people are being forced to spend hundreds if not thousands on private dental care with some even resorting to DIY dentistry.
9. Half a million people are on waiting lists for care in residential settings or at home and one in 10 care staff positions are vacant.
10. On average, patients have to wait more than half an hour for an ambulance to respond to emergencies such as heart attacks or strokes.
11. Over 1.35 million (53%) of those inactive because of long-term sickness reported that they had a mental health condition such as depression or anxiety and the cost to the UK of poor mental health is estimated to total £120bn every year.
12. There are huge vacancies across the NHS and social care, and retention rates are poor too.
13. The NHS estate is facing a record £12 billion backlog of repairs and the primary care estate is in need of significant upgrading too.
14. The new Labour government has brought forward only two pieces of legislation on health for this parliamentary session, and none on social care.

Conference believes that:

1. The previous Conservative government ran our NHS into the ground, neglected health and care services, and let patients down.
2. Health and wealth are two sides of the same coin.
3. Enabling people to access the health care they need as soon as they need it, is not only better for health outcomes, it's also better for the public purse.
4. Adopting an 'invest to save' approach will drive investment in community services and help shift the focus to prevention.
5. Improving the health of the nation is just as important as providing access to health care when people need it.
6. Mental health should be put on the same footing as physical health.
7. The NHS cannot be fixed unless social care is fixed too, and reform cannot wait any longer.

Conference calls on the new government to:

1. Bring forward a plan to save GP services including increasing the number of full-time equivalent GPs by 8,000 to ensure everyone has the right to see a GP within seven days, or within 24 hours if they urgently need to.
2. End DIY dentistry and 'dental deserts' by guaranteeing access to an NHS dentist for everyone needing urgent and emergency care, and fixing the broken NHS dental contract to bring dentists back to the NHS from the private sector.
3. Boost cancer survival rates and introduce a guarantee for 100% of patients to start treatment for cancer within 62 days from urgent referral.
4. Increase the Public Health Grant so that local authorities can improve the health of their communities and prevent ill health.
5. Fix the life-threatening crisis in our ambulance services by ending excessive handover delays and increasing the number of staffed hospital beds.
6. Improve early access to mental health services by establishing walk-in mental health hubs for young people in every community and introducing regular mental health check-ups at key points in people's lives.
7. Prioritise the proposed bill brought forward in the King's Speech to finally reform the Mental Health Act.
8. Implement a ten-year plan to invest in hospitals and the primary care estate to end the scandal of crumbling roofs, dangerous concrete and life-expired buildings.
9. Introduce free personal care, a higher Carer's Minimum Wage, and a workforce plan for social care.
10. Provide the resources and support for cross-party talks so that they can report as soon as possible and well before the most common time of between two and four years.

Applicability: England only.

Amendments

The FCC has agreed to make the following drafting amendments to the motion:

In 8. (lines 82-84), after 'care estate' insert 'and IT systems'; after 'concrete' delete 'and' and insert ','; and after 'bulidings' insert 'and incompatible, failing digital infrastructure'.

In 9. (line 86), after 'care' insert 'and to provide sufficient funding to local authorities to cover the increased costs of social care resulting from these measures'.

Amendment One

PASSED

Submitted by: Lambeth
Mover: David Whitaker
Summation: Stevan Cirkovic

In M. (line 38), after 'primary care estate' insert 'and mental health estate'.

After v) (line 54), insert:

vi)    Community-based care in non-institutional environments should be expanded where appropriate - physical health checks in pharmacies as well as community mental health provision are important pillars of modern health services that are efficient, preventative, and accessible to all communities, involving the right professionals in the right spaces.

In 8. (lines 82-84), after 'care' insert 'and mental health'; delete 'to end' and insert 'to move from'; and after 'failing digital infrastructure' insert 'and therapeutic environments that promote recovery'.
 

Amendment Two

PASSED

Submitted by: 10 members
Mover: Peter Lacey.
Summation: Tom Gordon MP.

After 9. (line 86), insert: 

10.    To introduce a fair funding deal for hospices and to include palliative and end of life care services in priorities and planning guidance for the NHS to ensure a whole system response to the growing need for these services.
 

­

Mover: 7 minutes; summation of motion and movers and summation of any amendments: 4 minutes; all other speakers: 3 minutes. For eligibility and procedure for speaking in this debate, see page 8 of the agenda. 

The deadline for amendments to this motion, see pages 10–11, and for requests for separate votes, see pages 7–8 of the agenda, is 09.00 Thursday 12 September. Those selected for debate will be printed in Conference Extra and Saturday’s Conference Daily.