NHS operating theatres will be run like Formula 1 pit stops to get sick Britons back to work, says Wes Streeting

Operating theatres will be run like Formula 1 pit stops to get sick Britons back to work, Wes Streeting claims.

Teams of leading clinicians are being sent into hospitals to implement reforms that will ensure patients get treated faster and can get back to work.

Top doctors who have developed new working methods are performing up to four times more operations than normal.

The Health Secretary will tell the Labour Party conference on Wednesday that the “crack teams” will start with 20 hospital facilities in the parts of the country with the highest economic inactivity.

About 2.8 million people are now unemployed due to ill health – 500,000 more than in 2019.

Operating theatres will be run like Formula 1 pit stops to get sick Britons back to work, Wes Streeting will claim on the fourth day of the Labour Party conference

Teams of leading clinicians are being sent into hospitals to implement reforms aimed at treating patients more quickly and returning them to the workforce. Some 2.8 million people are now unemployed due to ill health.

The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts that spending on sickness and disability benefits will rise by £30 billion over the next five years if current rates continue.

NHS waiting lists now stand at 7.6 million, of which 3.1 million are waiting for treatment for more than 18 weeks. This is the maximum number of patients expected to wait.

Mr Streeting told the conference in Liverpool: ‘Ending the junior doctors’ strike was essential to our pledge to deliver 40,000 extra appointments a week and reduce waiting lists.

‘But we must not only ensure that our employees return to work, but also that they perform optimally.

‘We are sending top teams of doctors to hospitals across the country to implement reforms developed by surgeons, so we can treat more patients and reduce waiting lists.

‘The first hospitals these teams will target will be in areas with the highest rates of illness. Because our reforms are not just about delivering on our health mission, but also about pushing the boundaries of our growth mission.

‘We will take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, getting sick Britons well again and back to work. That is the difference a Labour government makes.’