NHS bosses urged not to politicise NHS in election campaigns

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson has said that political parties should not use the NHS as ‘a political weapon’ in the election campaign.

With both the Conservatives and and Labour vowing to spend billions to improve care, Hopson told the BBC's Today programme that ‘over-dramatising NHS difficulties’ or making ‘disingenuous’ funding claims did the service ‘no favours’.

NHS Providers, which acts for health trust leaders in England, urged parties not to make ‘empty promises’ or create ‘unrealistic expectations’ ahead of the 12 December election. Instead, Hopson said that there should be a ‘proper, mature, evidence-based’ debate on what the NHS needs.

Acknowledging in The Times that it is natural that politicians should ‘cast themselves as champions and defenders of the NHS’ during election campaigns, he warned that ‘it becomes counter-productive when the NHS is used as a political weapon’ - something he said leaders in the health service were worried was already starting to happen in this campaign.

On top of an extra £20 billion in funding agreed by Theresa May's government up to 2023, the Conservatives are expected to trumpet extra spending on the health service in England, including a £2.7 billion investment for six hospitals over five years and £100 million for a further 34 hospitals to start developing future projects.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he will end austerity in the NHS via a ‘proper funding settlement’, with the exact details to be announced ahead of the launch of the party's manifesto.