Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting gives a speech during a visit to Worcester City FC with Labour leader Keir Starmer. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA WireBritain’s National Health Service is one of its most cherished institutions, part of the fabric of its national identity. Yet the system is choked with up to 7.3 million people languishing on NHS waiting lists and GP and dentist surgeries similarly swamped.
It stayed red throughout the years of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, turning back to blue with the return to power of the Conservative party in 2010. It has stayed that way since. For the last 45 years whichever party has held this constituency has also held the keys to Downing Street.
Labour leader Keir Starmer poses for ‘selfies’ with student nurses and trainee medics in Worcester on Wednesday. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire A chunk of the problem lies in long waits for the diagnostic scans that are often necessary before treatment can start. About 1.6 million Britons are waiting on scans. Streeting and Labour have promised capital investment to double the number of scanning machines to free up the clog.