Wes Streeting – 2024 Speech at Labour Party Conference

The speech made by Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 25 September 2024.

Dave has worked in the ambulance service for nearly thirty years.

But nothing could have prepared him for what he faced on Monday the 29th of July.

He arrived on the scene in Southport to find children who had gone to dance to Taylor Swift, and the adults whose sole purpose was to bring joy to their young lives, lying bleeding, some tragically dying.

The result of an unimaginable, senseless, mindless attack.

I listened to Dave describe the split-second decisions he had to make, of who to treat, in what order, to give them the best chance of survival.

And I heard how the whole NHS team came together: security rushing children through busy hospital corridors; technicians mobilising blood supplies; reception fielding calls from panic-stricken parents; and surgical teams fighting to save those young lives.

Those heroes represent the very best of the NHS, and we owe them a debt of gratitude we can never repay.

Conference, I can’t tell you the weight of responsibility I feel to make sure that the National Health Service that has been there for us since 1948, is there for the next century and beyond.

And I tell you, I will not let you down.

But the truth is, Conference, right now the NHS is letting people down.

Let me tell you about Claire, who messaged me on Instagram.

She is a stage four cancer patient.

When she felt pain two years ago, she struggled to get diagnosed.

Her employer provides private health insurance, and for the first time in her life, Claire used it.

Had she stayed with the NHS, Claire is certain she’d be dead.

Instead, she’s been able to live her life to the full, including getting married in Ibiza.

Every cancer patient deserves world-class care.

But for every person like Claire, who was able to go private, there are thousands more who can’t.

That cruel lottery is the legacy of 14 years of Conservative neglect.

That is the two-tier system of healthcare that Labour will end.

And that is why we must reform our NHS.

It starts with honesty.

So I asked Lord Darzi – a cancer surgeon with 30 years’ experience – to lead an independent investigation into our National Health Service.

The results are grim.

100,000 toddlers and babies left waiting for six hours in A&E last year.

Cancer – more likely to be a death sentence here than in other countries.

Nearly three million people off work sick.

Waiting lists at record highs.

Patient satisfaction at a record low.

And the fundamental promise of the NHS, that it will be there for us when we need it, has been broken.

Broken by a decade of underinvestment; by a disastrous Tory top-down reorganisation; and by ditching the reforms made by the last Labour Government.

All of this meant that when the pandemic hit – our NHS was on its knees, and hit harder than any other comparable healthcare system.

It’s not that the Tories didn’t fix the roof while the sun was shining, they doused the house in petrol, left the gas on, and Covid just lit the match.

That’s why millions are stuck on waiting lists.

That’s why ambulances don’t arrive on time.

That’s why you can’t see your GP.

Never forgive, never forget, never let the Tories do it again.

I know the doctor’s diagnosis can sometimes be hard to hear. But if you don’t have an accurate diagnosis, you won’t provide the correct prescription.

And when you put protecting the reputation of the NHS above protecting patients, you’re not helping the NHS – you’re killing it with kindness.

So I say respectfully, but unequivocally, I won’t back down.

The NHS is broken but not beaten, and together we will turn it around.

Make no mistake, the Tories had a plan for the NHS: mismanaged decline; a status quo so poor, people are forced to raid their savings to go private; a crisis so bad that seven in ten people now expect charges for NHS care to be introduced.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.

Over my dead body.

We will always defend our NHS as a public service, free at the point of use, so whenever you fall ill, you never have to worry about the bill.

We can only deliver recovery through reform.

Without action on prevention, the NHS will be overwhelmed.

Without reform to services, we’ll end up putting in more cash for poorer results.

That’s the choice.

Reform or die. We choose reform.

Since the general election we’ve hit the ground running.

We inherited the farce of newly qualified GPs facing unemployment.

Patients can’t get a GP appointment, while GPs couldn’t get a job.

We cut red tape, found the funding, and we’ll have 1,000 more GPs treating patients.

That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

We are banning junk food ads targeted at children.

The first step towards making our country’s children the healthiest generation that has ever lived.

That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

Strikes have crippled the NHS, cost taxpayers billions and saw 1.5 million appointments cancelled.

My predecessor, the previous Conservative Health Secretary hadn’t even bothered to meet the junior doctors since March.

I called them on day one, met them in week on, and in just three weeks we negotiated a deal to end the strikes.

That’s the difference a Labour Government makes.

Ending the junior doctor strikes was central to our commitment to deliver 40,000 more appointments a week.

But as well as getting staff back to work, we need to get them working at the top of their game.

We’re sending crack teams of top clinicians to hospitals across the country to roll out reforms – developed by surgeons – to treat more patients and cut waiting lists.

And I can announce today that the first twenty hospitals targeted by these teams will be in areas with the highest numbers of people off work sick.

Because our reforms are focused not only on delivering our health mission but also moving the dial on our growth mission too.

We will take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, get sick Brits back to health and back to work.

That’s the difference a Labour government makes.

But Conference we can’t fix the NHS without fixing the crisis in social care.

And we can’t fix social care without the people who work in it.

I loved what Keir said yesterday about his sister, a care worker.

About his determination to make sure that when she walks into a room and tells people what she does for a living, that she receives the same respect as the Prime Minister.

As the Secretary of State for Social Care, I won’t let Keir down or fail more than a million care professionals like his sister.

Angela and I will deliver a New Deal for Care Professionals: a Fair Pay Agreement, to improve pay and conditions and give staff the status and respect they deserve – our first step towards building a National Care Service.

Every day in this job I see the scale of the challenge. But I also see something else: the potential of our NHS.

The Tories’ biggest betrayal wasn’t that they left the NHS unable to care for us today.

It’s that they left it totally unprepared for tomorrow.

Advances in genomics and data mean the healthcare of the future will be more predictive, more preventative and more personalised than ever before.

Detecting from birth a child’s risk of disease so we can act to keep them well; spotting cancer earlier, saving countless lives; treating patients with targeted medicines.

To make these advances a reality for the many not the few, we need a universal health service, free at the point of need – able to share data, partner with innovators, and adopt new technologies at scale.

Such a service would be unique in the world.

Conference, the good news is, that service already exists – it’s called the National Health Service.

And our job is not just to get the NHS back on its feet, we must make it fit for the future.  And that is what our ten-year plan will achieve.

Conference, if we get this this right, we will end two-tier healthcare in our country for good.

So that preventative care, precision medicine, personalised treatment are no longer just for the few, but for the many.

That fairer future is possible. But only if we act today.

An NHS running on fax machines can’t seize these opportunities.

But a reformed NHS can.

From analogue to digital, from hospital to community, from sickness to prevention

Reform is not just possible, it is happening.

From AI detecting skin cancer and cutting waiting times to weight loss jabs slashing the risk of heart attacks for diabetes patients.

But Conference, to seize that potential we have to reform the NHS to make it fairer.

When the wealthy receive a diagnosis, they already know the best surgeons and can push to get the best care. But working people can’t.

If the wealthy are told to wait months for treatment, they can shop around. But working people can’t.

And if they pay top dollar, the wealthy can be treated with cutting-edge equipment and technology. But working people can’t.

Our ten-year plan will give all patients – rich and poor alike – the same information, the same choice, the same control.

Now I know there are some on the left who cringe at this. Who view choice as somehow akin to marketisation.

But our party has always believed that power should be in the hands of the many, not the few.

That public services exist to serve the interests of the pupil, the passenger, the patient above all else.

That world class services shouldn’t just be the preserve of the wealthy.

So starting in the most disadvantaged areas, we will ensure patients’ right to choose where they are treated, and we will build up local health services so it’s a genuine choice.

And where there’s capacity in the private sector, patients should be able to choose to go there too, free at the point of use, paid for by the NHS.

Because working people deserve to be treated on time, just as much as the wealthy.

Conference, when we look around our country today, it’s easy to be pessimistic. But the public have turned to us to give them hope. So here it is: we are in the foothills of a decade of national renewal.

10 years in which our country and our health and care services will change enormously.

The NHS transformed into a Neighbourhood Health Service.

A digital health service powered by cutting-edge technology.

A preventative health service that helps us stay healthy and out of hospital.

And a new National Care Service, ensuring people can live dignified and fulfilling lives

That’s the change that lies before us.

It will take time and it won’t be easy.

We will have to fight loud opposition, cynicism, and vested interests.

But Conference, bring it on.

It is up to us to prove that politics can be a force for good again.

So let me to say to every one of you in this hall and to the millions of dedicated staff in health and social care across our country.

We are the generation that will take the NHS from the worst crisis in its history to build an NHS fit for the future.

We are the generation that will build a National Care Service worthy of the name.

The NHS there for us when we need it.

With world class care for the many, not just the few.

That’s the change Britain voted for.

That’s the change we’ll deliver together.

And Conference, that change has already begun.

Thank you.