Tories yet to deliver on many 2019 health and social care manifesto pledges – analysis

By Ella Pickover, Reporter20th March 2024News EnglandBusiness / Funding / Finance, Government / Politics, Hospitals, News England, NHS, Social Care

The Conservatives have not yet delivered on many of their 2019 manifesto pledges on health and social care, according to new analysis.

The King’s Fund said that the Government’s progress on its commitments has been “mixed”.

Of the 14 pledges assessed by the think tank, five have been met, six have not been met, and three have been partially met or the evidence on them was inconclusive.

It said that less progress had been made on commitments with a deadline beyond the next general election and commitments with “less specific aims”.

But the authors of the latest analysis said that it is important to judge the delivery of the commitments in the context of the events that have unfolded since the last general election, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis.

The pledges which have been met include: 50,000 more nurses; 26,000 more “primary care professionals”; an increase in spending on the NHS by £34 billion per year; a rise in the charge to foreign users of the NHS and the delivery of 50 million extra general practice appointments a year by 2024/25.

But the Government has not delivered 6,000 more GPs or a cross-party consensus in order to legislate for long-term reform of social care.

The pledge to improve NHS performance by bringing down operating waiting times, improving A&E performance and increasing cancer survival rates has also not been met, the King’s Fund said.

The authors said that the Government has also not yet delivered on the 40 new hospitals target – but the end date for this target is 2030.

They said that the Government has not yet made the NHS “the best place in the world to give birth” and it has not delivered on its pledge to double funding for dementia research.

The commitments which were partially met, or for which the data was inconclusive, include: £1 billion more funding every year for more social care staff and better infrastructure, technology and facilities or the abolition of hospital car park charges for Blue Badge holders and the gravely ill.

The authors said it is inconclusive as to whether ministers have been able to extend healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035.

“So far, the Government’s progress on its 2019 manifesto commitments has been mixed. Of the 14 commitments we assessed, five have been met, six have not been met, and three have been partially met or the evidence is inconclusive,” the authors wrote.

“A common criticism of the UK’s political system is that it incentivises short-term thinking driven by electoral cycles rather than long-term improvement.

“It is interesting to note that less progress has been made on commitments with a deadline beyond the next general election (January 2025 at the latest) – for example, building 40 new hospitals by 2030 and extending healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035.

“Those commitments with less-specific aims have also not been met, such as seeking cross-party support for long-term social care reform or doubling dementia research funding, a figure that is hard to quantify.”

They conclude: “As a general election approaches, progress – or a lack of it – towards the current Government’s manifesto commitments may hold some lessons for political leaders now finalising their next manifestos.”

The analysis does not include the Prime Minister’s own personal pledge to cut NHS waiting lists.

The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.