Eltham Labour Party

Working hard for you

 

The NHS safe in Labour's hands

When Labour came to power in 1997, 14,050 patients had been waiting for over 13 weeks for inpatient treatment in our four local hospitals; Queen Elizabeth, Bromley, Queen Mary's and Lewisham.  Of which 4,619 patients had been waiting an for over 26 weeks.

But since then under a Labour government, the NHS has gone from strength to strength and now in July 2007 the number waiting 13 weeks had fallen by 90 percent and no one waited longer than 20 weeks, a massive improvement on the Tories.

In 1997 there were 4,908 local people waiting over 13 weeks for outpatient appointments but in July 2007 no-one was waiting that long.  At the same time the number of patients treated had risen 39 percent.

Labour has delivered these improvements because of our long term investments in the NHS. Since we were elected in 1997 the health budget has trebled from £33 billion to £92.5 billion, we are building 156 new hospitals, and now have 85,000 more nurses and 32,000 more doctors since 1997.

The numbers are proof that your hospitals are benefiting more by far under the Labour government, compared with the neglected state left under the Tories. Visit the NHS website found here to know more about what your NHS does for you.