11 January 2024 , 22:30
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Keir Starmer has pledged to end the scandal of children waiting for NHS hospital treatment within the first five years of a Labour government.
The Labour leader will order health bosses to prioritise children caught up in record NHS waiting lists and will "personally monitor" progress if he wins power. NHS data released on Thursday showed 180,937 kids were waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment while a staggering 18,632 were waiting more than a year in November 2023.
Waiting lists of over 18 weeks among children stood 95,098 in November 2021.
Labour has previously pledged to end waits of more than 18 weeks for patients - an NHS England target that has not been met since 2016. But the party said a Labour government would write to local health leaders - integrated care boards - to give them "strategic direction to prioritise children's waiting lists".
Mr Starmer, who visited Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool, said: "When children are waiting over a year for treatment, that is dangerous and damaging for their long-term health. Children waiting for huge proportions of their life for hospital treatment is heartbreaking, causes immense stress for their parents, presses pause on family life, and they need to end."
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He added: "The biggest casualty of the short term ‘sticking plaster’ politics of the last 14 years are our nation’s children. My Labour government will turn this trend around, and I will personally monitor the speed at which we do. My government’s mission-led way of working will deliver the change the NHS needs, with a drive from the heart of government to see children’s waits for treatment end."
It came as Mr Starmer embarked on the first of his fortnightly tours across the country to promote the party's "missions" for government. Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting also defended Labour's plans to address tooth decay among kids with supervised toothbrushing in free breakfast clubs.
Pressed on whether he was bothered by descriptions of the policies being "nanny state" interventions, the Shadow Health Secretary said: "I think there's going to be worse name calling than this in the run-up to the general election and if the Conservatives think they're going to win by slinging mud and people will forget 14 years of misery, failure and grotesque incompetence, they've got another think coming."
He added: "'I'm more affronted or offended over the fact we've got children sitting in hospitals aged between six and 10 and the number one cause of their admission is tooth decay. I'm angry there are 200,000 young people on mental health waiting lists."