General Election
2010
Comparison of the health policies of the three main
political parties
This following briefing
provides a comparison of the key health policies outlined by the
three main political parties in their General Election Manifestos.
You can also find links to their full health policies and
Manifestos.
Health policy
comparison
General/Funding
Labour
- £20 billion of efficiency-savings to be
invested in NHS frontline services over the next four years.
- Refocus capital investment on primary and
community services.
Conservatives
- Increase health spending in real terms
‘every year’
- Secure funding for frontline services by
cutting back on bureaucracy.
- Scrap politically motivated targets.
- Stop forced closure of A&E and
maternity wards.
Liberal Democrats
- Cut spending in management, quangos and
bureaucracy and reinvest in to services, including mental
health.
- Limit the pay and bonuses of top NHS
managers so that none are paid more than the Prime
Minister.
- Put front-line staff in charge.
Choice, Rights, and Information
Labour
- Increase year-on-year the payments made to
hospitals linked to patient satisfaction and quality outcomes.
- New NHS Constitution to give right to
patients to determine time and place of treatment.
- NHS Constitution to guarantee legal rights
of patients to NICE approved drugs.
Conservatives
- Patients able to rate doctors and
hospitals using increased performance data available online.
- Every patient to have power to choose
healthcare provider that meets NHS standards.
- Patients in charge of their own health
records.
- Spreading the use of the NHS Tariff, so
funding follows patient’s choices.
Liberal Democrats
- Reduce centralised targets and
bureaucracy, replacing them with entitlements guaranteeing that a
patient gets diagnosis and treatment on time.
- Require hospitals to be open about
mistakes, and always tell patients if something is wrong.
- Private sector to pay if treatment not
provided on time.
Structures
Labour
- No top-down changes to the structure of
Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities.
- All hospitals will become Foundation
Trusts (FTs) with successful FTs being given freedom to expand in
to primary and community care, and to increase private services
where they are consistent with NHS values.
- Active role of independent sector.
Conservatives
- Independent NHS board.
- Creation of ‘HealthWatch’, a statutory
body with the power to investigate and support complaints.
- Ensure that NHS providers become
autonomous Foundation Trusts.
Liberal Democrats
- Scrap Strategic Health Authorities.
- Introduce elected Local Health Boards to
take over commissioning from PCTs.
- Cut the Department of Health by half.
- Abolish quangos, such as Connecting for
Health.
- Allowed staff to establish employee trusts
to give them ‘a say in how their service is run’.
Primary Care
Labour
- Expansion in role of NHS nurses,
particularly in primary care.
- Extend right for staff, particularly
nurses, to request to run their own services in the not-for profit
sector.
- Commitment to opening at least 100 new GP
practices in key areas, along with 152 new GP-led health centres,
open 8am-8pm, seven days a week.
- Abolition of GP practice boundaries
Conservatives
- GP pay linked to quality of results.
- GPs to hold patient budgets and to have
role in commissioning services.
- Every patient to have access to a GP from
8am to 8pm, seven days a week.
Liberal Democrats
- Every patent given right to choose to
register with the GP they want, without being restricted by where
they live.
- Ensure GPs are directly involved in
providing out of hours care.
- Reforming payments to GPs so that those
who accept patients from deprived areas receive extra payment.
Public Health
Labour
- Health-check guarantee to ensure everyone
from 40 to 74 will be guaranteed routine health checks on the
NHS.
- GPs to provide exercise and healthy eating
advice
Conservatives
- Department of Health to be renamed the
Department of Public Health.
- Separate public health funding will be
allocated to local communities.
- Introduce a health premium – weighting
public health funding towards the poorest areas with the worst
health outcomes.
Liberal Democrats
- Reduce ill health and crime caused by
excessive drinking.
- Support ban on below-cost selling, and
principle of minimum pricing.
Mental Health
Labour
- We will pioneer better mental health care
and tackle the scourge of mental illness
- Access to psychological therapy for those
who need it through the funding of 8000 new therapists
- Extra support for charities providing debt
advice, mental helath and family support services in the most
deprived areas of England
Conservatives
- Changes the rules for Foundation Trusts to
enable welfare-to-work providers and employers to purchase services
from mental health trusts.
- Increase access to effective ‘talking’
therapies.
Liberal Democrats
- Prioritise dementia research within health
research.
- Improve access to counseling for people
with mental health problems.
- Continue the roll-out of cognitive and
behavioural therapies.