Sir Keir Starmer vowed to cut the number of patients waiting more than 18 weeks for NHS treatment by 450,000 within two years as he sought a New Year reboot for his Government.The Prime Minister pledged that by the end of 2026 two thirds of patients would be getting treatment within this timescale.
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00:00Our approach must be totally unburdened by dogma.
00:05Working people expect nothing less.
00:08So today I welcome a new agreement that will expand the relationship
00:14between the NHS and the private healthcare sector,
00:17make the spaces, the facilities and resources of private hospitals
00:21more readily available to the NHS.
00:24That's more beds, more operations, more care, available to the NHS.
00:30Treating patients free at the point of use,
00:34targeted at where we need them most.
00:37A partnership in the national interest,
00:40cutting waiting times, working for you,
00:43delivering our plan for change.
00:45APPLAUSE
00:52Now, I know some people won't like this, but I make no apologies.
00:56Change is urgent.
00:59I'm not interested in putting ideology before patients
01:03and I'm not interested in moving at the pace of excuses.
01:07All through this project that we've been involved in,
01:12people have been saying to me, slow down.
01:16You can't change the Labour Party, they said.
01:19You won't win an election in every nation in Britain, they said.
01:22And they say you won't deliver on that plan.
01:26They've said again this year, I've no doubt about it, about this plan,
01:30it's that anthem of decline.
01:33But they've been wrong at every stage.
01:37And they'll be wrong again,
01:40because this year we will show that Britain can,
01:44can change our country,
01:47politics can be a force for good,
01:50and we can unite the NHS behind a plan for reform.
01:54An NHS that's faster, easier, and more convenient,
01:58with waiting times cut, patients in control,
02:02technology at your service,
02:04and outstanding care in your community.
02:07That is the change we will deliver.
02:09Another step along the road to a country and a people
02:13strong, secure, confident
02:16that the future will be better for their children.