Exeter Labour Party

A few weeks ago the Tories were feting Daniel Hannan MEP for being rude to the Prime Minister on You Tube. 

Now they are frantically trying to distance themselves from him. 

Hannan, who recently described the NHS as “a 60 year mistake” that “made people iller” has been in the United States supporting right wing Republican efforts to oppose President Obama’s health care reform proposals. He told US TV Viewers that he: “wouldn’t wish [the NHS] on anybody.” 

As the Tory NHS-friendly mask started to slip, David Cameron was forced to proclaim his support for the NHS and denounce Hannan as “eccentric”.  But his efforts were undermined when another senior Tory, Roger Helmer MEP, came out in support of Hannan, saying that he would not recommend the British NHS.

What we now see is the two faces of the Conservative Party - the one David Cameron wants to everyone to see and believe, and the other one presented by senior Conservative politicians. 

You still can’t trust the Tories with the NHS.

Labour’s Health Achievements

• Waiting lists are down by 614,000 since 1997. Most patients are now waiting less than 13 weeks, and nobody should wait more than 18 weeks for treatment.
• Over 99% of suspected cancer patients are seen by a specialist within two weeks of being referred by their GP, and over 99% of cancer patients start their treatment within a month of diagnosis.
• Over 38,000 more doctors and 80,000 more nurses since Labour came to power.
• Investment in the NHS has trebled since 1997.
• Labour has built over 90 new NHS walk-in centres and over 650 one-stop primary care centres, and is investing £750 million in a new generation of modern, convenient community hospitals.
• Cancer mortality rates in under-75s have decreased by 17.1% since 1996, saving nearly 9,000 lives in 2006 compared to 1996. We are saving 31,000 lives from cardiovascular diseases every year compared to 1996.
• Labour is opening at least 100 new GP practices in the areas which need them most, along with 152 new GP-led health centres to be open 8am-8pm, seven days a week.
• Most GP practices open for at least one evening or weekend surgery a week.
• All hospitals have been deep cleaned, and the number of matrons, to keep them clean and enforce hospital cleanliness, has been brought up to 5,000. Every non-emergency patient screened for MRSA.
• Patients can choose from any hospital provider in England that meets NHS standards and costs, giving patients more control and helping to drive up standards.
• We are rolling out a national programme of vascular checks for everyone aged between 40 and 74, to prevent at least 9,500 heart attacks and strokes every year and save 2,000 lives.
• By the end of 2010, we will have extended the ages at which adults are screened so that an additional 500,000 women will be screened for breast cancer and 2 million men and women will be screened for bowel cancer.
• By 2011, 3,600 more new psychological therapists will have treated 900,000 more people with depression and anxiety, improving their quality of life and reducing the numbers on sick pay and benefits.