Milton Keynes NHS backlog 'damning indictment on Government', says shadow health secretary

The Labour shadow secretary has slammed the Government for the growing diagnosis checks patients face in Milton Keynes.

Speaking at Milton Keynes Hospital’s new cancer centre, Wes Streeting criticised the current Government’s support for the NHS. Recent NHS data shows that 9,000 patients at Milton Keynes Hospital are waiting for tests and scans to diagnose illness. Almost 4,000 people have been waiting more than six weeks while 1,400 have been waiting over 13 weeks.

Mr Streeting told the MK Citizen: “The fact that we’re 14 years into a Conservative Government and only now are we beginning to see the hospital grounds looking more like a building site, with that extra capacity that is going to be needed to decant services out of the building so that work can take place, is a damning indictment on the mismanagement of the NHS by the Conservatives, that has squandered the legacy that we left of the shortest waiting times and the highest satisfaction in history.

"[It has] left the NHS without the staff, the equipment, and the facilities they need to treat patients on time. And you can see that here in Milton Keynes with over 9,000 people waiting for diagnostic appointments and tests. But that is not a criticism of this hospital. It is a reflection of every hospital in the country that’s facing similar pressures.”

In late 2020, the Government announced a £3.7 billion scheme to construct 40 new hospitals in the country, including a Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Milton Keynes, but the National Audit Office says that only 32 are likely to be ready by the 2030 target date set. Health officials representing Milton Keynes Hospital said the programme in Milton Keynes remained on track in December, despite concerns around other hospital projects.

Labour says it would double the number of CT and MRI scanners in the NHS through its Fit for the Future Fund. Projections from the opposition party state that this would be completed by committing a ring-fenced fund of £171 million per year to the national service.