Bursaries for nurses
Pledge: £1 billion to restore the nurses’ training bursary for nurses to help recruit 24,000 extra nurses and midwives.
Why it is needed: There are 40,000 nursing vacancies in England. Experts say this could rise to 68,500 by 2024 because of the decision to scrap nursing bursaries.
Training more GPs
Pledge: Expand GP training places to 5,000 to create 27 million more appointments with family doctors.
Why it is needed: A shortage of thousands of doctors over the last five years means that GP waiting times have it a new high. Patients had to wait a month before seeing their doctor in a staggering 15 million cases.
End parking charges
Pledge: Scrap hospital car parking charges.
Why it is needed: Patients and visitors paid £272m to park last year – including £86m forked out by NHS staff.*
Free prescriptions
Pledge: Free prescriptions across the UK
Why it is needed: England is the only part of the UK to charge for prescriptions. The cost has risen from £7.40 in 2011 to £9 this year.
More CT & MRI scanners
Pledge: Provide an extra £1.5 billion to increase the numbers of CT and MRI scanners.
Why it is needed: The UK has just nine CT scanners per 100,000 people compared with 35 per 100,000 in Germany. The NHS also needs to recruit 1,104 radiologists in England. The NHS is failing to meet its targets on diagnostics.
Mental health
Pledge: £2 billion to upgrade mental health buildings and £1.6 billion to fund counselling services for schools and community services for people with severe mental illness.
Why it is needed: The number of mental health beds has fallen from 67,000 in the 1980s to 18,400. One in 10 consultant psychiatrist posts are unfilled. Last year 175,000 child and adolescent mental health service appointments were cancelled.
Upgrade GP surgeries
Pledge: An extra £2.5 bn to upgrade GPs surgeries so they can deliver better for their communities.
Why it is needed: The NHS’s capital budget that funds investment in buildings, beds, equipment and IT is lower today in real terms than 2010/11. Modernising surgeries and upgrading their IT would mean GPs could offer more provision and better appointments systems.
Digital and hi-tech
Pledge: More investment in digital and artificial intelligence to ensure the transformation of future services.
Why it is needed: Will allow the NHS to keep up with the latest technological developments – providing state-of-the-art modern equipment, secure data handling and a more efficient network for both staff and patients.
Repair and rebuilding
Pledge: NHS capital budgets increased by £15bn over five years to rebuild NHS hospitals and community facilities and clear the repair backlog, funded from Labour’s Social Transformation Fund.
Why it is needed: Research has revealed ward ceilings falling in, sewage pipes bursting treatment and surgery delayed. The repair backlog bill now stands at £6.5 bn, up from £6bn last year, with £3.4 bn of it classed as “high or significant risk”.
Public health
Pledge: A £1bn annual increase for public health including an extra £100m each for addiction and obesity services, £75m extra for sexual health and £75m extra for 0-5 services. Plus an extra 4,800 health visitors and school nurses.
Why it is needed: Councils have faced £1bn cuts to public health budgets which the Health Foundation and King’s Fund say has had a major impact on local services. Life expectancy improvements have slowed dramatically and health inequalities are widening.
*not included in the £26bn and will be separately costed in the manifesto
