00:00This is the year we roll up our sleeves and reform the NHS, a new era of convenience in
00:06care, faster treatment at your fingertips, patients in control and NHS fit for the future.
00:15A big promise in the Prime Minister's first big speech of the year.
00:19Today Sakir Starmer outlined plans to cut the NHS backlog that has left millions across the UK
00:28waiting for an appointment, including here in Medway.
00:32Yeah I had to wait quite a few months for a replacement.
00:37I've had a condition for the last 13 years that I've just been pushed from pillar to post.
00:44Neurology is horrendous, there's at least a two-year waiting list.
00:51I've just got on through the pain management after a year's waiting list so
00:56it just goes on and on and on. You just feel like you're banging your head against a wall.
01:01You know I had elderly parents, unfortunately they're both dead now but
01:07while they were alive it was not a nice thing to have to go into hospital
01:13and see them wait for hours to get attended to.
01:19To cut the backlog, community diagnostic centres will be open for longer alongside new surgical
01:28hubs. GPs will be offered cash to discuss with doctors whether patients can be treated outside
01:35hospital and patients will be provided more choice over where they'll be treated.
01:41Currently there's 7.5 million people on NHS waiting lists and the government wants to
01:48get those numbers down by the end of next year. They want about 65% of people to be seen
01:54within 18 weeks but those numbers to some medical professionals feel a tad ambitious.
02:03I think they've got to do something and I can see where they're going. I do have some doubts as to
02:10whether it's going to work as well as they think. It's very dependent on having extra capacity
02:16and that's both having beds in hospitals, rooms in GP practices and additional staff because if
02:21you're going to do additional consultations you need additional doctors, nurses and so on to carry
02:26that out. Where is the workforce going to come from to do this extra work in the community and
02:33also the estates. General practice particularly has huge problems with its estates, not enough
02:39rooms to even get the current staffing let alone the additional staff to run these hubs.
02:45Doctors divided but with the government hoping to provide 2 million extra appointments in its first
02:53year, change cannot come fast enough for those on Kent's waiting lists.
03:00Oliver, these are the stats for KMTV in Medway.
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