YOU CANNOT TRUST THE TORY RECORD ON THE NHS
"The electorate will not be conned by the Conservatives when it comes to the NHS.
"They will remember the years of under-funding and neglect when the Tories ran the health service. They will remember that the Tories voted against a big cash boost for the NHS in the last Parliament. And most of all, they will understand that the Tory instinct - as shown in the manifesto that David Cameron himself wrote - is to subsidise the few to opt out of public services, instead of improving them for the many.
"The label on the tin may have changed, but Tory instincts have not. The NHS is certainly in trouble, but the Tories are certainly not the answer." - Steve Webb MP, Lib Dem Shadow Health Secretary
Remember the Tory neglect of the NHS in Government: starving it of investment and creating long waiting lists.
Key fact: Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats from the House of Commons Library show that in their last year in office the Tories actually cut real spending on the NHS (annual % increase in real terms 1996/7: -0.2%). Also:
Under the Tories people waited over two years for an operation .
The average daily number of NHS available hospital beds fell from 364 in 1979 to 194 in 1997/8
The Conservatives presided over payment negotiations which saw many dentists reduce their NHS work. John Renshaw, Chairman of the Executive Board of the BDA [British Dental Association] said that the 1992 fee cut is still seen as a "scar running through the profession that has never been put right".
There were more than a million people on NHS waiting lists under the Tories .
Britain spent an average of 5.5% of GDP on health expenditure in 1996/7, this was well below the European average .
Despite their rhetoric on tackling hospital superbugs, the Conservatives forced hospitals to contract out their cleaning - price was more important than quality. The result: standards fell and responsibility for ward cleaning fragmented. Under the Conservatives the true level of hospital infections was unknown because they did not bother to collect the information.
The number of nurse training places fell from 16,338 in 1992/3 to 14,984 in 1996/7
Eye tests were free in 1979 but in 1997 they cost an average of £16-£17 .
Over 50,000 operations were cancelled in 1996/7
SIX QUESTIONS FOR DAVID CAMERON AND THE CONSERVATIVES
1. How can the Conservatives credibly campaign against NHS cuts when they voted against increasing investment in the NHS to its current level?
2. How can Cameron be trusted when he has watered down his commitment to the NHS already?
3. Will Cameron be able to resist the pressure from his party for swingeing cuts in health and other public services to fund tax cuts?
4. What say will there be for patients in their plans for an independent NHS?
5. How much further would the Tories take the privatisation of the NHS?
6. Can we trust someone who, just last year, was campaigning to divert money out of the NHS to subsidise private health care?
FOOTNOTES
Cutting NHS Waiting Times: Identifying strategies for sustainable reductions: King's Fund, February 2005. The full report on this research can be accessed from www.kingsfund.org.uk/pdf/dhwaitingtimes.pdf
Parliamentary answer 10 August 2004 to Paul Burstow MP
House of Commons library: Standard Note: SN/SP/1955
House of Commons library research paper: 99/60; 14 JUNE 1999
Treasury statistics: Total Expenditure on Services by function as a percentage of GDP http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/99A/1E/public_spending_by_function_20041202.XLS
Written answer, 4 October 2004, column 1993W
'Labour Research - 18 years of Feathering their nests' 1997
Written answer 4 November 2004, column 388W