Green Party MPs elected on 4 July will ‘push for’ increased funding to primary care, with an aim for additional annual spending to reach £1.5bn by 2030.
The Greens, which currently have just one member of Parliament, also said they want a ‘guarantee’ for ‘rapid access to a GP and same-day access in case of urgent need’.
Its manifesto, published today, stressed that ‘investing in GPs and public health is key to prevention, early diagnosis and improving our quality of life, while also reducing the burden on the NHS’.
Any elected Green MPs will also push for a restoration of public health budgets to 2015/16 levels with an immediate annual increase of £1.5bn.
‘Smoking cessation, drug and alcohol treatment and sexual health services all need to be properly funded,’ the manifesto said.
The party also wants an ‘immediate boost to the pay of NHS staff, including the restoration of junior doctors’ pay, to help with staff retention’.
‘To meet these aims, we estimate that the NHS in England will require additional annual expenditure of £8bn in the first full year of the next Parliament, rising to £28bn in total by 2030,’ the party’s manifesto said.
‘Additional capital spending of at least £20bn is needed over the next five years for hospital building and repair.’
Other Green manifesto commitments include:
- A year-on-year reduction in waiting lists.
- Guaranteed access to an NHS dentist.
- A National Commission ‘to agree an evidenced-based approach to reform of the UK’s counter-productive drugs laws’.
- Increased funding for mental health care, putting it on an equal footing with physical health care and enabling people to access evidence-based mental health therapies within 28 days.
- A change in the law to legalise assisted dying for people suffering from terminal disease ‘who wish to avoid prolonged unnecessary suffering, if this is their clear and settled will’.
The latest unveiling of policies follows the Conservative Party election manifesto launch yesterday, which focused on tax cuts, including a 2p reduction to National Insurance, in addition to previously-announced plans for investing in GP surgeries. The BMA pointed out it had no solution to doctor strikes nor GP employment problems.
