Covid-19: NHS Long-term Plan Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Desai
Main Page: Lord Desai (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Desai's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(4 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Bethell (Con)
I completely agree. It is a grave shame that too many diagnoses happen late. We are proud of our acute care, but it is this Government’s mission to move to a priority around early intervention which will have a huge impact on the quality and length of people’s lives and make modern healthcare more affordable. The noble Baroness is entirely right that respiratory interventions are an important priority.
Lord Desai (Lab) [V]
My Lords, it is not good enough just to praise NHS staff. Will the Government commit to spending a certain percentage of GDP on health as soon as possible? I suggest that 12% of GDP should be spent on health; then we would not have a repetition of this disaster.
Lord Bethell (Con)
We do not just stand and praise. We are recruiting a huge number of new staff—50,000 more nurses and more GPs—and we invest in them through our people plan.