The future of our NHS has featured little in the Labour leadership election. Indeed,the only candidate who has consistently talked about their plans for the future of our health and care services is Andy Burnham. But it’s no surprise other candidates own been peaceful. The key elements of health and social care policy in the Labour manifesto for the 2015 general election remain the appropriate prescription to repair the damage to our services. And the architect of those policies was Andy Burnham.
Those policies included a substantial increase in NHS funding now, not in 2020; full integration of health and social care; a renewed emphasis on prevention and public health; a commitment to quit the Tory drive to privatise our NHS; a key role for local government and their health and wellbeing boards; and, and a rejection of any further top-down reorganisation of the NHS. Andy Burnham’s outstanding work as shadow secretary of state for health has kept the NHS in the forefront of public consciousness and his staunch opposition to privatisation of the NHS shows he is prepared to fight for what he believes in.
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Source: theguardian.com