The NHS winter crisis and “abysmal” corridor care won’t be fixed immediately under a Labour government, Wes Streeting has admitted. The shadow health secretary said if his party is voted in, Labour won’t have a “magic wand” but committed to meeting long-missed A&E targets within the next five years. Speaking at an event held by the Medical Journalists’ Association, Mr Streeting said his party would seek to unblock hospital beds by having NHS budgets funnelled into social care placements so patients could be discharged sooner.
He also warned if he gave into junior doctors’ 35 per cent pay demands, their union - the British Medical Association - would return every year for more. Mr Streeting told reporters: "If Labour was saying, don’t worry folks, we’re coming in on 5 July if you vote us in - everything’s going to be sorted by Christmas and you’ll be saying thank goodness we’ve got a Labour government. “[Voters] would not believe us and think we’re just another bunch of politicians who will say anything to win their vote and let them down after the election.
“I think the public can see the depths of the crisis facing the country. Millions of people are still asking ‘Can anyone sort this out?’, such is the lack of trust in politics and politicians. “I’m being honest with the public that we can’t wave a magic wand and fix everything on day one or fix everything by Christmas, but what we do have is a plan to hit the ground running and a t.
