The Liberal Democrats have called for a ‘new legal right’ to see a GP within a week ahead of the King’s Speech.
On Wednesday, the King will lay out the new Government’s legislative agenda for the coming months including the bills it will introduce to Parliament.
More than 35 bills are expected over the parliamentary session, with a focus on ‘growing the economy’ through house-building, better transport, more jobs and securing clean energy.
The Lib Dems, who in the recent general election increased their number of seats by 61, have called for ‘new laws to end the crisis in health and care’ to be included in the King’s Speech.
This should include ‘giving patients new legal rights to see a GP within a week and to start cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent diagnosis’.
The party said there should be a ‘statutory duty’ for the Government to deliver on these targets.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said his party has heard ‘thousands of heartbreaking stories’ from voters about the ‘dire’ state of the NHS, with some waiting ‘weeks’ for a GP appointment.
He continued: ‘The Conservative Party brought our health and care services to the brink of collapse. After years of neglect, the top priority of the incoming Labour government should now be to save our health and care services.
‘That is why the Liberal Democrats want to see the NHS and care put at the heart of the King’s Speech, including ending long delays for GP appointments and cancer treatment. Patients simply cannot wait any longer.’
Last week, the newly-elected Lib Dem MPs called for an emergency health budget which would increase investment, including through ‘more GPs, NHS dentists and cancer nurses’.
During the general election campaign, the party pledged to set up a ‘Strategic Small Surgeries Fund’ in order to ‘sustain services in rural and remote areas’.
The new Labour health secretary Wes Streeting has not yet committed to any new laws, but in his first week he pledged to reverse the underfunding of general practice.
He has also indicated that an emergency legal ban on private prescribing of puberty blockers, introduced by the Conservative Government, may become permanent under Labour.
Last week, Mr Streeting appointed Professor Lord Ara Darzi to lead an investigation into the ‘state of the NHS’, which will inform a new 10-year plan.
