Health

The demands on our NHS are increasing rapidly. We are living longer, treatment costs are rising and we expect ever more from our health services.

Even though we are spending more on the NHS we must improve its efficiency if we are to pass on a strong service to ourchildren. Our reforms will deliver this but various myths are being peddled.

Myth 1. We are privatising the NHS and attacking the notion of treatment being free at the point of delivery and available regardless of ability to pay. Nothing in the Bill does this. Private providers will of course continue to provide services to the NHS as they have done since 1948 but will no longer be advantaged in the commissioning process as they were under Labour.

Myth 2. Treatments will be commissioned on the basis of the cheapest price. This is actually banned within the Bill. There will be no race to the bottom on price just a race to the top on quality.

Myth 3. Health professionals are completely against these reforms. The truth is that the figures promoted by various health bodies rely on surveys answered by a small minority of their members. The response rates to surveys by The Royal College of GPs and The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists were just 7% and 2% respectively.

Myth 4. Waiting times in the NHS are up and front line services reduced. The truth is waiting times are down and we have thousands more doctors and midwives in the NHS now than under Labour.

It is unclear what Labour's plans are for the NHS but it is clear what healthcare looks like when they run it. In Wales where Labour govern the NHS is being cut by £440-million and waiting times are significantly higher than here.