Wes Streeting has resigned from cabinet.

[Viviennemary]

Well it's started.

He's not that much different to Jenrick

That's interesting, I was going to ask what anyone on the inside thinks of what he's done.

As a patient, I have seen a marked improvement (in the bits I use) over the last 12 months.

It's much easier to get a GP appointment, DP finally has an NHS dentist, last time I took Mum to A&E we were home in less than three hours after xrays and blood tests, and I have waited (only?) 3 months for a minor procedure on my foot which I was expecting to take years.

It took me a long time to sort out which was which 🤣

I don’t trust a single one of them

I think everyone involved should be ashamed of themsleves. Opposition parties, Labour MPs, press. Labour have a massive majority, there's not going to be a GE no matrer who's leader, even if you think that complete change is needed.

No one, except perhaps Starmer, is acting in the interests of the country, and the more.we have of this kind of nonsense the less likely it is that the kind of people who should be in these posts want them.

I'm sick of the lot of them. Any admiration I might have had for Burnham or Streeting or another one of the alternatives to Starmer has completely evaporated now that they've all pushed for him to resign right now. Haven't they heard of the saying "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"? They are in government, with a huge majority, and all they're focused on is their individual chance of being PM or whether as individuals they'll get re-elected. I thought they were grown ups but suddenly it's all me before party, and party before country. I'm not sure I even believe in this apparent truth that the whole country hates Starmer, at least not more than other prime ministers in the past have at various times been hated or disliked. I don't particularly like him but he's doing the job and I wish he could just be left to get on with it - even if he's gone by 2029 why on earth do we need a new PM right now?!

He’s considered too young to be PM, he’ll join the Andy Burham camp, take a different top job in that administration, spend 10 years in the wilderness as opposition MP, become leader and be PM in his early 50s

I think you’ll find he’s pretty universally hated in healthcare

Waiting lists are coming down - because patients are being discharged back to their GPs

He says he’s got 8k more mental health posts - but 24k people have left

Nursing posts have been cut

Doctors can’t get jobs - there are no training posts (300 applicants per job)

Primary care is being cut to the bone. GPs have rejected the new contract, so it’s being forced on them instead

GPs have been told they have to limit the amount of blood tests they can order - so screening and monitoring will go out the window

Quality and patient safety has been virtually eliminated, there are not enough staff to cover even the statutory roles

Safeguarding is being stretched beyond being workable - workloads effectively doubled

Systemically we are being taken back to the days of before Mid Staffs. There are going to be deaths, there are going to be avoidable harms, but as long as he has his fingers in all his private pies he couldn’t give a shit

Hear hear.

I’ve had a massive improvement in NHS services the last two years. No ridiculous waiting lists anymore for gynae care for example has been a godsend. I believed everything was slowly getting better.

Why do these MP’s all hate Starmer so much? I don’t get it, unless they know something we don’t.

Yet another PM is the last thing we need, I agree the media have been stirring this up.

I just don’t see Wes, Ange etc as PM material, at least KS comes across as a fairly sensible, calm adult, a bit bland maybe, but I don’t care - I’d rather have someone like him or even Sunak as PM than buffoons like Bojo

Currently there isn't a Butnham camp, and the timing of this means there's unlikely to be for this round. He needs to find a seat and be elected MP first.

Personally, despite being mostly Labour voting, I'd vote against him should he be presented as a by-election candidate here, simply because he's created all this turmoil (he started it a few months back) for personal ambition rather than the good of the country.

Oh I just read this. never mind then, maybe it isn’t getting better 😔

This, more or less.

There seems to be a lack of any kind of competence around Starmer, I can't imagine there are that many people who think Streeting will be any better (possibly not even Streeting himself).

I hope there is someone half decent who can replace WS, health is such an important role and matters to everyone - maybe I am over optimistic but turning health around could be the making of Labour. Or at least, stop the freefall.

Wes is a very close friend of Peter Mandelson.
Its a shame he left his post, adult social care needs a massive overhall. Its not working.

Yeah I said the same on the other thread. If my Labour MP stood down (unlikely as we’re really far away from Manchester and they’re fairly young, not someone who might retire soon), I’d vote against him out of principle. A by election and a mayoral election, followed by a leadership contest? Stop wasting my time and go and do the job you campaigned for.

I’m afraid any improvement in health (and admittedly there HAVE been) are due to health services themselves

This is improving in spite of catastrophic “leadership”, not because of it

I also just can’t see Andy Burnham as a PM figure, why is he so popular with MP’s? Or is he just being used as a pawn?

So why didn't that happen under the 14 year Conservative "leadership"?

I get what you're saying, I've worked in several organisations that were badly run but operated well because the staff made it happen, but I've definitely seen a change since the election.

Labour do not have much talent in their huge number of MP's. That is the main problem. Starmer was good at his job in law but a dreadful PM. He U turns all the time. No one knows if he means what he says. Burnham wants a by election in the North but to do so he'd have to give up the Mayoralty and he might not even win a by election. The public have had enough of Labour. Most times they only get a single term for a very good reason, they leave absolute chaos behind them. I just hope we don't get a left leaning PM.

The improvement is because Labour have thrown souch money at the NHS.

Keir Starmer may not be the answer, but Wes Streeting is even less so. Wes Streeting, former friend and protégée of the sex offender's mate Peter Mandelson, would be a gift to Reform.

These gay men all sticking together eh? 🙄

What exactly are you basing this accusation on? I’ve seen it promoted a lot by Burnham bros but very little evidence.

Bear in mind that it was Burnham and Miliband hobnobbing and working with Mandelson under Blair and subsequently in early opposition, when Streeting had barely left education.

Streeting is not beloved by GPs. He is doing his damnedest to kill the partnership model (without understanding what that actually means), is obsessed with Big Data and AI and technology as the saviour to increased demand, and is trying to impose a new GP contract which will trigger more industrial action. There is a shortage of GPs and also no jobs for GPs thanks to the funding model, with an ongoing slide towards replacing qualified doctors with physician associates.

However, he has fought for more money for the NHS (for secondary care, where most of the money goes, despite the huge majority of patient contacts being in primary care). He also has been strong and sensible on the harms of youth gender medicine and I agreed with his stance on assisted dying (where he seemed to have actually listened to Palliative Care doctors). I actually agree with merging NHSE and DHSC - don't know why there are some many intermediary levels of bureaucracy in the NHS with corresponding lack of accountability.

So IMO he isn't the worst Health Sec on record but far from the best and I think Big Data is a clear and present threat so any dewy-eyed cheerleaders (with an eye on post-Parliament tech jobs - yep, looking at you Clegg) make me extremely nervous especially in the health realm.

I agree with PP that the media are part of the problem (with the rapid turnover of PMs), baying for blood, pushing and pushing the narrative, trying to make a story to have something to endlessly pontificate about. But Streeting has played right into their hands. Ugh.

I think that may well happen. I think a lot of Labour voters will be pissed off with this.This whole thing is ridiculous. Our MP is one of the ones who published a letter saying Starmer should go. He is the first ever Labour MP in the constituency and was absolutely torn to shreds in the Facebook comments under his letter.

I wonder what Burnham would do if he resigns as mayor and then failed to get elected to parliament.

As much as I want shot of Starmer, I’m bored with Labour shenanigans now.
Just wake me up at the next General Election.