ELECTION 2015: Where the parties stand on the NHS

Hospitals across the UK, and including those in Hampshire, are facing increasing pressure on A&E departments while many residents say they have to wait longer and longer to see their GP.

So with the NHS firmly on the agenda ahead of Thursday's election, just how would the main parties act to provide the service with the funding and help it needs?In the latest of a series of features looking at the key issues, we asked five parliamentary candidates in Hampshire what their parties would do to protect one of the UK's most cherished institutions.

WAITING TIMES: Many people have to wait a long time to see their GP, thus adding to pressure on hospital accident and emergency departments. What would your party do to tackle this issue?

Stuart Rose, Labour, Fareham: “By investing more into the fabric of the NHS we will recruit and train 8,000 more GPs, guaranteeing an appointment within 48hours and thus alleviating some of the pressure on local A & Es which people turn to while currently unable to get an appointment too often for a week or more.

“The difficulty in obtaining GP appointments is almost singlehandedly responsible for the current crisis in many A & E departments with too many people waiting over four hours to be seen.

George Hollingberry, Conservative, Meon Valley: “The Conservatives want everyone in England to have access to a named GP seven days a week 8am to 8pm from 2020 and we've started achieving this target with millions of people already having this option.

“But that is not enough. We will restore patients' rights to access a specific, named GP - something that Labour abolished. We will ensure that family doctor appointments and repeat prescriptions are routinely available online. And we will guarantee same-day GP appointments for all over 75s who need them.

“GP surgeries need to be more flexible to fit in with patients' lives and having a seven-day GP service will go a long way to cutting waiting periods.”

Ian Callaghan, Green Party, Romsey and Southampton North: “An average GP appointment costs £45, a visit to A&E £112, so this is certainly a critical issue, as is prevention so that fewer visits to the doctor are needed in the first place. Having a cleaner environment and more secure employment, which are the overall aims of much of Green policy, are major contributors to improvements in health and reductions in stress that are both big underlying factors in the use of primary healthcare.

“Green Party policy is to reintegrate health and social care - better joined-up services would reduce the load on both GPs and A&E units. We would invest in services and people, as mentioned below, including more nurses for GP surgeries as a cost-effective solution to dealing with more routine healthcare matters. We would also provide accessible, local community health centres that will deliver a wide range of services including out of hours care.

“Finally, educating the public to make more use of pharmacists, who are qualified to help with many minor complaints, would also avoid taking up the time of more expensive healthcare professionals who could then be freed to do more urgent and complex work.”

Pearline Hingston, UKIP, Southampton Test: “First and foremost we must tackle uncontrolled immigration, as the sheer numbers of people and increase in the population is putting pressure on all services, with the health service taking a battering.

“The population should also be reminded about when and in what circumstances a visit to A&E is appropriate.

“The general issue, of course, is that people may have to wait a long time to see their GP, and also many surgeries are not open at week-ends, therefore some people feel that going to A&E is justified.

“Some sections of the society, due to their reckless behaviour, for example, drinking too much alcohol, are known to take up a lot of time in A&E. Here again education and a sense of personal and community responsibility would ease the pressures.

“UKIP would like to see doctors' surgeries open later where there is a demand. People also need to be reminded that this is NOT an International Health Service, you should pay in before drawing anything out. Eight thousand more GPs will need to be recruited to serve the current population.”

Eleanor Bell, Liberal Democrat, Southampton Itchen: Part of the Liberal Democrat manifesto focuses on Better access to GPs and community care closer to home. This is essential to reduce pressure on hospitals, A&E departments and the Ambulance service.

“We would work with GP practices to explore ways of improving access, including extended opening hours, telephone and Skype consultations where appropriate, and greater use of practice nurses and clinical nurse specialists.

“Our Patient Premium, similar to Pupil Premium, is designed to encourage GPs and other community clinicians to work in disadvantaged areas where resources are currently scarce. Better utilise the network of community pharmacists so they can assist as point of first contact for advice on minor illnesses and are joined up with GP and community health teams.”

AGENCY STAFF: There is an over-reliance on agency staff in the NHS, what would you do to recruit more full-time medical staff?

Stuart Rose, Labour, Fareham: “Our Time to Care programme, outlined below, will recruit and train 20,000 more nurses and 3,000 more midwives.

“This will go a long way towards solving the current staffing issues.

“An organisation the size and complexity of the NHS will never get by without some reliance on agency staff occasionally however we will ban the more exploitative types of zero hour contracts that so demoralise those staff working under them.”

George Hollingberry, Conservative, Meon Valley: “We say there are enough doctors and nurses to staff the NHS because in the last five years we have hired 9,500 more doctors and 6,900 more nurses.

“The Conservatives will continue to ensure that the NHS has enough doctors, nurses and other staff to meet patients' needs but we have and will continue to cut down on managers and ensure that staff are at the frontline.”

Ian Callaghan, Green Party, Romsey and Southampton North: “Green Party policy is to do away with zero-hours contracts, providing job stability and improving retention of staff. Providing NHS staff with certainty and structure in their careers (no threat of imminent sell-offs to the private sector, and an end to top-down re-organisations) will lead to a more secure, stable workforce.

“We would respect the NHS Pay Review Body and bring NHS pay back in line with inflation. We would also focus on the best possible training for all staff.

“Green Party investment in the NHS would lead to an increase of 400,000 in staff numbers. Proper staffing itself reduces stress and helps stop the drain of skills to other countries.”

Pearline Hingston, UKIP, Southampton Test: “The UK should be training its own health staff, so that over time we can provide the required staffing levels for the population. Currently we do not know how many people will be coming into the country, therefore it is difficult to plan for future needs.

“We would like to see a points-based system operate for qualified people wishing to work in areas such as the health service, for professionals who speak English, from anywhere in the world. The current recruitment system allows people from EU countries to work in the NHS whether they have adequate English language skills or not. This has led to problems, so we wish to correct this lowering of standards.

“One UKIP proposal is to remove tuition fees for students taking approved degrees in science, medicine, technology, engineering and maths, on the condition that they live, work and pay tax in the UK for 5 years after completion of their degrees. In the long-term, this should help to fill employment gaps in the NHS and other areas.

“In the short-term 8,000 thousand GPs will need to be recruited.”

Eleanor Bell, Liberal Democrat, Southampton Itchen: “We agree that over reliance on agency staff is costing the NHS a disproportionate amount.

“To increase recruitment, recommended pay rises must be respected and working conditions, including rostering, need to be reviewed to ensure fair and reasonable conditions for staff.”

FUNDING: Will you increase funding to the NHS, by how much, and how will you fund it?

Stuart Rose, Labour, Fareham: “Yes, £2.5b over the course of the next parliament raised primarily by a tax on properties valued at £2m or more and a levy on tobacco companies.

“This we are calling our Time to Care programme. Labour will make patient services fit for the future by bringing together physical health, mental health and social care into a single system of whole-person care.

“In other words a single service built around patients. The Tories seem committed to carving more services off into the private sector and creating a system which is increasingly fragmented and driven by which services are profitable, not by clinical need.”

George Hollingberry, Conservative, Meon Valley: “To pay for a world-beating NHS this country needs a strong economy and that is what we are achieving because of our long-term economic plan. This enables the Conservatives to commit to increasing NHS spending in England in real terms by a minimum of £8 billion over the next five years, if we win the election.

“And we have kept our promises on NHS funding up to now by ring fencing its budget. Health spending has increased by more than £7 billion above and beyond inflation in the five years since 2010 despite austerity and economic head winds, so the message is very much this: the NHS is safe in our hands.

“The NHS is also more efficient now than it has ever been and to improve further we will implement the NHS's own plan to improve health care even further - the Five Year Forward View.”

Ian Callaghan, Green Party, Romsey and Southampton North: “Yes. We would immediately increase the overall NHS budget by £12 billion per annum to overcome the current funding crisis and increase funding for mental health care .

“Thereafter, we would increase the overall NHS budget by 1.2% per annum in real terms, in order to take account of our ageing population.

“Finally, we would provide free social care for the elderly, at a cost initially of £8 billion per annum.

“All of these funding increases would be directed at patient care and not profits. We would roll back the privatisation that has taken place in the last 15 years and currently sees private firms pocketing £18 million from the NHS budget every day.

“These funding levels are part of an overall costed plan within general taxation, taking the UK back from levels of spending of 9.6% on the NHS today to levels more in line with France or Germany, both at around 11.5%. One specific tax measure would be an increase in taxation on alcohol and tobacco.”

Pearline Hingston, UKIP, Southampton Test: “Throwing money at the NHS may not solve the problems. As already mentioned, the unquantifiable population growth makes it almost impossible to plan for future needs.

“Withdrawal from the European political union will save billions of pounds and UKIP will invest £3 billion of this into the NHS.

“We also want to invest in dementia research, and believe that social and health care should merge, as this will provide a better way to meet the needs of the older population.”

Eleanor Bell, Liberal Democrat, Southampton Itchen: “We will increase funding by £8 billion by end of next parliament, £1 billion pounds funded in the first year by capping pensions tax relief for the richest pensioners, aligning dividend tax with income tax for those earning more than £150,000 and scrapping the Conservative shares for rights scheme.”

POLICIES: What are your party's key health policies?

Stuart Rose, Labour, Fareham: “The NHS is one of our great national institutions, and it is one of Labour's proudest achievements. It embodies our belief that by the strength of our common endeavour, we achieve more than we achieve alone. “But the future of the NHS is under threat. The Conservatives have put the wrong values at its heart, and patients are finding it harder to get the care they need. There is a clear choice over the NHS at this election, the Tories making it unrecognisable from the service people have cherished and relied on or Labour's better plan, from a GP appointment within 48 hours to a cancer test within one week.

“We will join up services from home to hospital with a single point of contact for those who need it. We will repeal the Government's Health and Social Care Act, scrapping the competition regime and restoring proper democratic accountability for the NHS.

“Finally, it always falls to us to save the NHS from the Tories. We will do it again.”

George Hollingberry, Conservative, Meon Valley: “The Conservatives have five key health policies: continue to increase spending on the NHS, supported by a strong economy, so the NHS stays free at the point of delivery; spend at least an additional £8 billion by 2020 over and above inflation to fund and support the NHS's own action plan for the next five years; and ensure patients can see a GP and receive the hospital care seven days a week by 2020, with a guarantee that everyone over 75 will get a same-day appointment if they need one.

“We would also integrate health and social care, through our Better Care Fund and lead the world in fighting cancer and finding a cure for dementia.”

Ian Callaghan, Green Party, Romsey and Southampton North: “A publicly funded NHS free at the point of use, with an extra 400,000 staff in secure and properly paid jobs.

“The end of privatisation of the NHS and the repeal of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. We would place the quality of patient care, especially patient safety, at the heart of the system.

“Making mental health a greater priority, with resources to match.”

Pearline Hingston, UKIP, Southampton Test: “Our key policies include: ensuring that the NHS is free at the point of delivery and time of need for all UK residents; making sure visitors and migrants to the UK should have NHS-approved health insurance as a condition of entry; ensuring that GP surgeries offer evening opening where there is demand for it; and stopping further use of Private Finance Initiative in the NHS.

“Foreign health workers must be properly qualified and speak English; we would scrap hospital parking charges for patients and visitors; and we would bring back hospital-based training for nurses.”

Eleanor Bell, Liberal Democrat, Southampton Itchen: “We will focus extra funding on two key priorities that will help reduce cost pressures in other areas to help NHS funding remain sustainable. These priorities are:

1) Mental health. We want to end the discrimination against mental health and have pledged £500m extra a year to support this from 2015/16 onwards.

2) Prevention. Keeping people healthier for longer and supporting people to stay as healthy as possible and to receive care closer to home.”