Boris Johnson’s infamous 2019 election pledge to build 40 “new” NHS hospitals drew immediate criticism after critics pointed out most of the projects were refurbishments or new wings to existing hospitals. But despite it serving as a millstone around the former prime minister’s neck for his entire time in office, Rishi Sunak has decided to double down on the promise in the Tories’ 2024 election manifesto. With all three major UK political parties having formed a Government since 1997, health experts analyse their health manifesto pledges to see how close, or otherwise, they came to fulfillment.
Here, Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at the King’s Fund think tank and Mark Dayan, policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust, give i their verdict on the parties’ health promises of the past – and explain what it might tell us about the next government. Labour – 1997 election manifesto From the start of Tony Blair’s term in power, the NHS was high on the agenda. Labour promised that within five years of coming to power in 1997 they would deliver: 100,000 people off waiting lists; an end to the “Tory internal market” which separated the roles of purchasers and providers within the NHS; an end to waiting for cancer surgery; tough quality targets for hospitals; and to raise spending in real terms every year “and spend the money on patients not bureaucracy”.
The party also promised to “safeguard the basic principles of the NHS, which we founded”, but that the par.
