Health Secretary Wes Streeting visits Blackpool today with more details about the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan aimed at taking unprecedented action to tackle the nation’s stark health inequalities.
00:00Hello, it's Richard Hunt at the Blackpool Gazette. I'm with Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health.
00:06He's in Blackpool to talk about the government's 10-year strategy to tackle health inequality.
00:11How apt, appropriate is it to come to a place like Blackpool in regard to these plans?
00:16Yeah, so we're shortly publishing our 10-year plan for health, which will set out not just how we get our NHS back on its feet and make it fit for the future,
00:24but actually how we have a more healthier, happier country.
00:29And there's no better place, I'm afraid, to talk about some of the health inequalities in our country than to be here in Blackpool,
00:38which for me personally is a town with lots of happy memories.
00:42I used to come here quite a bit as a kid to Pleasure Beach and I've been up to Winter Gardens, various events over the years, including a few weeks back.
00:53But when it comes to my job as health secretary and social care secretary, it's got some of the worst health outcomes in the country.
01:02What sort of health outcomes are you aware of which are bad in Blackpool?
01:05So you've got the worst life expectancy, the worst, what's known as healthy life expectancy, which is the gap between when you fall ill and when you die,
01:15like people are becoming sicker sooner, even at a time when people generally are living longer.
01:20And you don't have to drive too far to find places where the life expectancy is so much better.
01:27I mean, you drive up to Ribble Valley and you've got years, years are longer.
01:33You look on teeth and dental care, a majority of kids, one in three kids, I think, have got visible signs of tooth decay, a third of children.
01:44And that's not that's just not acceptable. And so if we're serious about tackling these problems, we're serious about creating good health.
01:54That means putting our money where our mouth is and making sure that towns like Blackpool aren't overlooked when it comes to improvements in services.
02:04So today I've come to Blackpool to announce that we are going to be putting more funding into areas with the highest level of need.
02:12And so, frankly, the opposite of what the Conservatives did when they were in government.
02:17You might remember Rishi Sunak saying in Royal Tunbridge Wells, no less, that he was he was outraged that the last Labour government had funneled money into poor areas and he was reversing it.
02:27Well, we're now doing the reverse Royal Tunbridge Wells to make sure Blackpool gets more investment.
02:32Where would the investment be and how would that help the various difficulties that people have in Blackpool health?
02:36Yeah. So in a number of areas, you know, I hope over the course of this Labour government, people see, you know, the following improvements.
02:42Firstly, we've got to cut NHS waiting lists. Now, in Blackpool, they are not falling as fast as they are across the rest of the country, partly because they're putting in a new patient record system, which we've asked them to do.
02:55So we've got a bit of a bump in the road at the moment, but people should then see rapid improvement in waiting lists.
03:00And I'm keeping a sharp eye on that. Making sure that in terms of GPs, you get more GPs, more investment in general practice and more dentistry in Blackpool as well, because there are lots of children who are going without.
03:12And then on mental health as well, we're training up eight and a half thousand mental health workers.
03:16We're going to put mental health support in every primary and secondary school as well.
03:21So people will start to see and feel that difference. And it's not just me in health as well.
03:26You know, we're rolling out free breakfast clubs in primary schools so that kids start the day with hungry minds, not hungry bellies.
03:31We've just expanded free school meal access to half a million more children from families on low incomes.
03:39And that one thing alone is going to lift 100,000 kids out of poverty.
03:43So I hope people in Blackpool begin to feel that change.
03:45And look, we know that the last general election, you voted for change.
03:49And we know that unless you feel that change, you know, you will have let you down.
03:55So that's why I'm here today.
03:58It's for this Labour government, Blackpool certainly on the map.
04:01And so are towns like it across the country, particularly in rural and coastal communities that too often have been overlooked while all the focus has been on the big cities.
04:09So a lot done in our first year, but so much more to do.
04:14Change has begun, but the best is still to come.
