International Worker No 239, Saturday, September 13, 1997 Labour announces longest NHS waiting lists ever By Pavel Singh The biggest single yearly rise in hospital waiting lists since the National Health Service was set up has been announced by the Labour government. The figures show an increase of nearly 13% -- 135,500 since June last year. Almost 1.2 million people are waiting for medical treatment. Those waiting for more than 18 months ( a breach of the Patients' Charter) rose by 30,388. Alan Langlands, the NHS Chief Executive, and Sir Herbert Lamming, head of the Social Services Inspectorate, have been touring the country for the past three weeks informing hospitals and social services departments that they must work together to make the most of existing resources. Health Minister Alan Milburn said that hospitals would be given an early allocation of the money intended for the next financial year to help them cope. The British Medical Association said that separate money is urgently needed rather than digging into funds meant for next year. The Labour government has been quick to identify the crisis as the "appalling legacy from the previous administration, "but is just as quick to state it will do nothing to remedy this situation. Health Secretary Frank Dobson told the Nursing Times, "The waiting lists will ultimately come down but not this year or the coming winter". The release of the hospital waiting list figures, barely four months after Labour came to power, pledged to cut hospital waiting lists by treating an extra 100,000 patients. Yet in his first budget, Chancellor Gordon Brown held to his more serious commitment to keep to Tory spending targets. Since the NHS was founded in 1948, spending has grown at a rate of 3% a year and still grew by £1.6bn in the last year of Tory rule. Labour only allowed for an extra £1.2bn, which would not be available until the next financial year! Labour Ministers continually recount the record of the former Tory government to justify their present policies. But this is becoming ever more threadbare as the understanding grows that Labour are continuing the "Tory agenda". In an attempt to divert this anger into divisive channels, Labour has sought to shift the debate from the need to extend health care to the exclusion of increasing sections of the population on the basis of "clinical need" and "patient priority". Anyone from smokers, the overweight, to people who have attempted suicide are labelled as nuisances responsible for their own afflictions, who should not be allowed to waste NHS time and resources. One of the main targets of such abuse are the old and infirm, who are routinely described as "bed blockers".

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