Opponents of NHS reform 'killing it with kindness': Health Secretary

Critics of NHS reform are 'killing it with kindness', Wes Streeting said today as he vowed to press on with modernising the health service to help save lives.

The Health Secretary used his speech to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool he accused his opponents of putting 'protecting the reputation of the NHS above protecting patients'.

Mr Streeting has vowed to solve the crisis in the NHS, even by using private healthcare, at a time when 2.8 million people are out of work due to ill-health, 500,000 more than in 2019.

The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the bill for sickness and disability benefits will soar by £30 billion in the next five years, on current trajectories.

In a lively speech on the last day of conference, Mr Streeting took aim at critics of his plans from within the health service itself.

'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,' he said.

'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.'

In an attack on the previous Tory government he accused it of leaving behind a 'two- tier system of healthcare' that was failing patients, including those with cancer.

He said the NHS was 'letting people down' and referenced 'Claire', a stage-four cancer patient who went private for the first time because of the wait for a diagnosis.

'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,' he said.

'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.'

Mr Streeting said 'a crack team' of senior doctors will be brought in to implement reforms aimed at getting patients treated faster and help people get back to work to reduce waiting lists, unemployment and economic inactivity.

Mr Streeting told the conference in Liverpool: '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 20 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.'

He had earlier told Sky News: 'Where people are off ill and they are unable to work, the social security system is available, and it's up to us to make sure that we get them back to health and back to work quickly.

'Where people are fraudulently claiming benefits, that's a different kettle of fish, and people shouldn't be doing that, and we're not going to tolerate it, which is why, in her speech and through her work as the Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall will be clear, as has the Prime Minister, that we've got to reduce the benefits bill.

'Part of that is also about recognising that the failure of the previous government means that the NHS hasn't always been there for people when they need it, we owe it to them to get them back to health and back to work, and that's exactly what we'll do.'

He added: 'It's good for the nation's health, but also good for the nation's economy as well, because a healthy nation is a healthy economy, and a healthy economy helps to drive a healthy nation.'