Labour calls for £500m winter bailout fund to ease NHS pressure

The Labour party has called on the government to commit to a £500m (€565m; $675m) bailout fund for the NHS this winter to reduce waiting lists for treatment.

In a keynote speech to the Labour Party’s annual conference in Brighton on Tuesday 26 September, the shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, emphasised that ministers must not repeat the mistakes of last year that led to lengthening waiting lists during Theresa May’s first winter as prime minister.

A Labour analysis of official NHS figures1 shows that if the NHS suffered a similar collapse in performance this winter an additional 10 000 people would be waiting more than four hours for emergency treatment each day, with hundreds of operations cancelled and waiting lists growing.

The party wants …