Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper explains her party's policies for the NHS

Our NHS used to be the envy of the world. But now, too many people can’t access the care they need. The Conservatives have run our health and care services into the ground leaving patients to pay the price. 

Ambulance wait times are at record highs, cancer treatment targets have been missed every year since 2015, and millions of people are struggling to see their GP.

People are resorting to DIY dentistry because they can’t access an NHS dentist and millions are languishing on an NHS waiting list – watching their health deteriorate as they sit and wait in pain. 

Yet Rishi Sunak still has the nerve to claim his plan is working. The truth is that even former lifelong Conservative voters are now struggling to support a party which has taken them for granted.

That’s why the Liberal Democrats are putting forward a plan to tackle the crises facing our NHS. 

We’d start by bringing forward plans to introduce a legal right to see a GP within seven days, or within 24 hours if it’s urgent, boosting GP numbers by 8,000 and allowing pharmacists to prescribe a wider range of treatments to take pressure off GP surgeries.

Dentists too would be encouraged back to the NHS by reforming the outdated dental contract, to ensure that everyone needing an urgent or emergency appointment could get one.

And with so many waiting too long for cancer care we will introduce a new patient cancer guarantee to ensure all patients start cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral.

Liberal Democrats have long believed that good mental health is just as vital as good physical health, yet mental health services in this country have been completely neglected. 

That’s why we would create walk-in mental health hubs for young people in every community to improve early access to these services, put a mental health expert in every primary and secondary school, and introduce regular mental health check-ups at key points in people’s lives when they are most vulnerable.

We’ll also help keep people healthier for longer through robust investment in public health initiatives to prevent ill health and invest substantial funding to fix our crumbling hospitals and GP surgeries.

We are also the first party to have a chapter in our manifesto dedicated to care. Far too often, family carers are left to pick up the pieces of a broken care system. Millions of people are going without the care they need, while thousands are stuck in hospital beds instead of being cared for in their own home or a care home because there simply aren’t the care workers we need. 

Whilst Liberal Democrats believe that social care is important in its own right, we also understand that we need to fix social care to save our NHS.

We’ve made a big bold pledge to introduce free personal care, ending the injustice of forcing the most vulnerable to bear the costs and get everyone the high quality care they need.

That requires a well paid and supported workforce, which is why we’d introduce a higher Carer’s Minimum Wage to attract people back into the profession. We’d also support unpaid family carers with an increased Carer’s Allowance, paid carer’s leave and respite breaks.

The Liberal Democrats have a credible plan to rebuild our health and care services in a way that focuses on the prevention of ill health, gives people the care they need when they need it by investing in community services, and saving our NHS by fixing social care. This approach would improve people’s health outcomes and save taxpayers money.  

This election is a chance to end the years of Conservative chaos and rescue the NHS from collapse. The Liberal Democrats have the ideas to make that happen.

Daisy Cooper is deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats. She is also the party’s health spokesperson.

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