
The Guardian view on Labour's NHS plan: it is right to celebrate medical science, but delivery is the hard part
The overarching principles of Labour's reforms were set out last year: more prevention, more technology, more care delivered in the community (as opposed to in hospital). So the challenge was to find something fresh, original and hopeful to say. The promise of science and the potential of localism are what Wes Streeting's team has come up with. The strand of DNA pictured on the document's cover points to high expectations of genomic medicine and other cutting-edge technology. Neighbourhood clinics, by contrast, represent a prosaic recognition of demand for more ordinary services and treatments, from an ageing and increasingly unhealthy population. The aim is to deliver most outpatient care away from hospitals by 2035.
This could mean GP surgeries becoming more like hospitals, or hospital trusts taking a bigger role in primary care. The plans for new contracts make it clear that both are possible. But while this sounds fine in theory, questions remain over how, and by whom, such crucial decisions will be taken, and whether the new model will be better than the old one. With the abolition of NHS England, and scaling back of integrated care boards, the existing administration is being radically downsized. One of the risks of the next few years is that this backstage upheaval will distract time and energy from the frontline.
Plans to shift resources from richer areas to poorer ones deserve an unequivocal welcome. There is no great secret about expertise being concentrated in prestigious teaching hospitals, or about richer, better educated people being more confident advocates for themselves and their loved ones. Shifting the 'best to the rest' is both a neat slogan and an acknowledgment of present unfairness. Plans to integrate employment support and services such as debt advice into healthcare hubs signal an encouraging awareness that illness and disability have socioeconomic as well as biological causes.
The plan tells a promising story. Healthcare is an area of human progress that all can celebrate. It is plausible that proactive Labour ministers can both drive advances and ensure that they are more equitably shared than in marketised systems. Embedding more healthcare workers in communities, and focusing on outreach, could help to improve population health. But there are some worrying gaps.
Social care reform is due to be tackled separately, but worsening mental health, particularly in young people, also needs dedicated attention and research. Ministers should also be pressed on the contradictions between their health plan and their pro-growth, anti-regulation message to businesses – including those that sell alcohol and the high-sugar foods that cause obesity. Having brought control of the NHS in England back in-house, to the heart of government, Mr Streeting must now find the people with the imagination to further develop his plan, while turning it into action.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump says US will send letters setting tariff rates to trading partners
Donald Trump has said that the US will start sending out letters to trading partners on Friday setting tariff rates that countries will have to pay from the beginning of next month. The US president told the media that about '10 or 12' letters would be sent out initially, with further letters sent out over the 'next few days'. His administration is expected to write to all of its trading partners without a deal in place before 9 July, the end of a 90-day pause on Trump's 'reciprocal tariffs'. 'I think by the ninth they will be fully covered,' he said, referring to the deadline the US set for countries to reach bilateral trade deals to avoid higher duties. 'They will range in value from maybe 60% or 70% tariffs to 10% and 20% tariffs.' Trump did not provide further details on which countries would get the tariffs, or whether they would be targeted at certain goods and services. The Trump administration has so far announced deals with the UK and Vietnam, and agreed a truce with China after tariffs imposed on the world's second largest economy sparked a trade war. On Thursday, Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, hinted that the US was close to a high-level 'framework' deal with the EU that would avert 50% tariffs on all exports from the bloc next Wednesday. Trump initially revealed his programme of global tariffs on 2 April, 'liberation day', but later announced the 90-day pause to allow countries time to negotiate. Trump put more pressure on those countries still negotiating, saying that while a 'couple' more trade deals were close to completion his 'inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariffs they are going to be paying'. He said: 'It's much easier.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Earlier this week Trump said he would not extend the 9 July deadline for deals to be struck. 'We're going to do what the president wants,' Bessent said in an interview on Thursday. 'And he'll be the one to determine whether they're negotiating in good faith.' On Thursday, Trump secured passage of his controversial flagship tax and spending bill, after the House of Representatives approved it.


BBC News
32 minutes ago
- BBC News
Faversham hospital's inpatient service paused for a month
An NHS trust in Kent has paused the inpatient service at one of its hospitals for a month to maintain safe staffing to Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust's Faversham Cottage Hospital were paused on 27 June due to a rising number of nursing vacancies and sickness, particularly in critical leadership trust later made the decision to not reopen to admissions and to temporarily stop the inpatient service while a full review of staffing was carried McCormick, the trust's chief executive, said: "This is not a decision we have taken lightly. Our priority is, and always will be, the safety and wellbeing of our patients, staff and volunteers." All other services at the hospital, which provides rehabilitation for patients, are McCormick said: "During the past couple of months we have been working hard to bolster staffing; transferring colleagues from alternative hospitals, recruiting to vacant posts, supporting staff to return to work and using our bank and agency workforce."Despite these efforts, it is no longer sustainable to continue to use a temporary workforce and re-deploy staff from our other hospitals, placing other services at risk."The trust says it will work with staff and partners to minimise disruption and offer alternative temporary roles to allow more people to receive care in their own homes or at other community hospitals. 'It must reopen' Faversham and Mid Kent's Conservative MP Helen Whately says she is "deeply concerned" about the future of the added: "Of course the hospital needs to be safely staffed, but there should have been warnings to the community before now if it was at risk. "The Cottage Hospital is an integral part of Faversham and it must reopen."The trust, which has been contacted for more information, has committed to reviewing its decision within a month.


The Guardian
34 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Keir Starmer says good relationship with Donald Trump based on shared family values
Keir Starmer has spoken about his good relationship with the US president, Donald Trump, and their shared family values. To mark the first anniversary of the Labour government coming to power on Friday, the UK's prime minister spoke to the BBC podcast Political Thinking and said it was 'in the national interest' for the two men to connect. He said: 'We are different people and we've got different political backgrounds and leanings, but we do have a good relationship and that comes from a number of places. 'I think I do understand what anchors the president, what he really cares about. For both of us, we really care about family and there's a point of connection there.' In the interview, Starmer said he had a 'good personal relationship' with Trump, and revealed that the first time they spoke was after the then-presidential candidate was shot at a campaign rally in July last year. The prime minister said Trump had reciprocated with a personal phone call a few days after Starmer's brother Nick died on Boxing Day. Addressing recent political turmoil, Starmer said he would always 'carry the can' as leader after coming under fire over a climbdown on welfare reforms and that he would 'always take responsibility' when asked questions. 'When things go well … the leader gets the plaudits, but when things don't go well, it is really important that the leader carries the can – and that's what I will always do.' Starmer also backed Rachel Reeves and said she would be chancellor 'for a very long time to come', after she was visibly tearful in the House of Commons. The scenes came after the government U-turned on welfare reform plans that put an almost £5bn hole in the chancellor's plans. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Reeves said it was a 'personal matter' which had upset her ahead of prime minister's questions. Appearing on broadcast media on Friday, one year to the day since the 2024 general election, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper was asked on BBC Breakfast to score the government out of 10. 'I don't think it is for cabinet ministers to mark themselves and mark their own homework,' she said.