General election: Tories pledge more GPs as Labour unveil £1bn Sure Start plan
The parties make pledges on improving childcare and the NHS as they hit the road on day four of general election campaigning.
Saturday 9 November 2019 15:44, UK
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has pledged the Tories will "fix" problems in the NHS - as he outlined plans for an extra 6,000 doctors in GP surgeries.
But while doctors' representatives said they found the latest commitment "encouraging", they point out a previous Conservative pledge to deliver 5,000 GPs by 2020 has fallen way short of its target.
Meanwhile, Labour has unveiled plans for 1,000 new Sure Start centres, which offer support to parents of young children in disadvantaged areas.
The party also wants to expand free childcare to 30 hours a week for all two, three and four-year-olds.
But first out of the blocks with policy announcements on Saturday were the Tories. In addition to claiming they will boost GP appointments by 50 million, a 15% increase on the current figure of over 300 million, the party is also promising 6,000 more nurses, physiotherapists and pharmacists, and to introduce more online booking.
Ministers say the investment will increase check-ups and vaccinations and improve treatment of diabetes, obesity, mental health, cancer, heart disease and strokes.
Speaking to the Sophy Ridge On Saturday programme, Mr Hancock said: "The NHS is doing more than ever before, it's more productive than ever before, it's got more funding than ever before.
"And I am completely straightforward where there are problems like the pressure on GP services: we will fix them."
Rejecting claims by critics that the NHS risks being "sold off", Mr Hancock said: "The NHS has always bought things from private businesses.
"Some things it directly provides and of course we employ 1.4 million people, but other things the NHS buys from companies or private partnerships, which is what most GP surgeries are, or we provide drugs through pharmacies and pharmacies are private businesses.
"What matters in the NHS to patients is 'Are we going to get the treatment that we need, at the time we need it, free at the point of delivery, according to need not ability to pay?' And emphatically, yes we will, and we are putting in the taxpayers' money to allow that to happen."
Responding to the pledge, Dr Richard Vautrey of the BMA said: "The ongoing workforce crisis means patients are waiting far too long for appointments and GPs remain under intolerable pressure to be able to provide safe and sustained care.
"The Conservatives' commitments to deliver more GPs through additional training places is therefore encouraging.
"However, a previous Conservative pledge to deliver 5,000 GPs by 2020 has fallen way short of its target, and the number of GPs we have has continued to dwindle. So, we wait with some trepidation to see if this latest promise can deliver."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "This will be the same Conservative Party that promised 5,000 more GPs and, do you know what? The numbers went down by 1,600.
"You can't trust the Tories on the NHS."
Later, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner joined Mr Corbyn to announce a Labour pledge to spend £1bn on the new Sure Start centres.
At a Labour Party rally in Manchester this week, Ms Rayner - now a 39-year-old grandmother - spoke with passion about her own disadvantaged upbringing and how going to a Sure Start centre helped her as a 16-year-old mother.
Launching Labour's proposals, she said: "Investment in the early years can transform the lives of children and their families across this country, just as the last Labour government transformed mine.
"The Tories have slashed funding for Sure Start, leading to a loss of 1,000 centres, while their so-called free childcare offer locks out those families most in need of support."
Labour claims that under its plans the average parent of a two-year-old not currently eligible for childcare support would save over £5,000 a year.
Parents with children aged two to four who are currently only eligible for 15 hours would save over £2,500 a year, according to the party.
It would benefit over 880,000 three and four-year-olds and over 500,000 two-years-olds by the end of the next parliament, Labour says.
But responding for the Tories, Nick Gibb, early years minister in the department for education, said: "Giving children the best start in life is vital.
"That's why we are investing record amounts in high-quality childcare and we have seen the quality of childcare improve with 95% of childcare now rated good or outstanding.
"Labour's plans to abolish Ofsted would leave these centres without anyone properly checking your children are safe."
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Liberal Democrat proposals offer working parents 35 hours of free childcare a week when their baby reaches nine months.
Launching the policy at a rally in London, party leader Jo Swinson said the plans would close the gap between the end of paid parental leave and the start of free childcare provision.
The Lib Dems have also pledged to provide every child aged two to four with 35 hours of free childcare for 48 weeks of the year.
This would be extended to children aged between nine and 24 months where their parents are in work.
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