The Green Party has today become the first party standing candidates in the 2024 general election to officially back We Own It’s Pledge for the NHS.

The NHS has just lived through the worst 14 years of underinvestment, understaffing and outsourcing in its entire history.

With waiting lists now at a record high and hundreds of thousands of people who can ill-afford it forced to pay to get care from the private sector, it is clear what the effects of these policy decisions have been. 

It is not an exaggeration to say the NHS might not survive another 5 years of the same policies. 

Pledge for the NHS:

The Pledge for the NHS is We Own It’s general election campaign to mobilise people across the country to demand that their local parliamentary candidates and all political parties commit to three simple demands to rescue our NHS:

1. Reinstate the Health Secretary’s legal duty to provide healthcare to all (repealed in the 2012 Health and Social Care Act) - this only applies to England as other nations have retained this duty
2. Give the NHS £40 billion more per year to catch up with equivalent European countries (according to Health Foundation) - following the Barnett formula this means approximately £32 billion, £3.9 billion, £2.5 billion and £1.32 billion extra per year for the NHS in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland respectively.
3. Bring services outsourced to for-profit companies back into the NHS as their contracts end (to end the waste, protect patients and save lives).

The Pledge for the NHS campaign is backed by 22 national, regional and local organisations, and eight celebrities, including Stephen Fry, Frankie Boyle, Ken Loach and others.

253 candidates from almost all parties have already taken the Pledge for the NHS, with the largest number (176) coming from the Green Party. The Green Party co-leaders, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, who are hoping to be elected to represent Bristol Central and Waveney Valley, respectively, have taken the Pledge as individuals. 

What Green Party has said about the Pledge for the NHS:

A Green Party spokesperson told We Own It: "The Green Party is the only major party in this election that seems to understand the scale of the crisis the NHS is undergoing. We're hearing about it on the doorsteps and you can see it in the huge waiting list stats. Taking on this crisis requires boldness and ambition. That is what the public is asking politicians to show right now.

"That is why we are backing We Own It's Pledge for the NHS. The Green Party supports the need for significant investment in the NHS, to deliver a healthcare system as good as comparable European countries in order to catch up with comparable countries in Europe, ending NHS outsourcing and reinstating the health secretary's legal duties to provide health services to all.

"Our NHS is the thing that makes us the proudest to be British. It has been failed for the last 14 years, maybe more. This election is about whether we are ready to stand up and fight to save this beloved public service. So far, only the Green Party is serious about doing that."

The Green Party launched their election NHS commitments on Thursday, June 6th, promising to increase NHS funding by £30 billion per year by 2030 and invest an additional £20 billion to rebuild crumbling NHS hospitals and old equipment.

In a video given to We Own It by former Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, she said: “I know how much the NHS matters to my constituents. They are worried about its future and they’re worried about it right now. About the long waiting times, the pressure on GPs and nurses, and about being able to get the quality care that they need. 

“And my constituents know that outsourcing and privatisation are a potential threat to that care. That is why I am pledging for the NHS on behalf of the Green Party.”

Sian Berry, who is the Green Party candidate to replace Caroline Lucas as MP for Brighton Pavilion wrote to We Own It to back the Pledge, saying “People tell me they are well aware the threat comes from decisions being made in Westminster which need to be challenged”.

What other parties are saying about the NHS:

So far, during this election, the other main parties have made the following promises. 

The Liberal Democrats have promised a £4 billion plan to give cancer patients the legal right to start treatment within two months of referral.

Labour's £2 billion plan promises to create 40,000 new GP appointments per week, 700,000 new dentist appointments per year and double the NHS's diagnostic capacity.

The Conservatives have pledged to implement a £1 billion-per-year plan to build 100 new GP surgeries in England every year