Conservative Party’s legacy on the NHS

The NHS is under new management. The Labour Party’s election win on 4 July 2024 marks the end of 14 years of Conservative led governments presiding over the English NHS—from David Cameron’s coalition with the Liberal Democrats in 2010-15 to Rishi Sunak’s stint in Number 10 in 2022-24, with Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss in between. Labour left the Conservatives a vastly improved NHS when it lost office in 2010.1 How do the Conservatives return it in 2024?NHS performance deteriorated against headline measures since 2010.2 People are waiting longer in emergency departments to get care; longer in corridors for a hospital bed; longer for planned hospital services—like tests, scans, and surgery—and urgent cancer treatment. Covid-19 made things worse, but NHS performance had been declining for several years before the pandemic hit.3 For example, in 2010-11, just 3.9% of patients waited more than four hours in major emergency departments….
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