NHS delays Streeting says long waits led to 'death sentences' for some

Some NHS patients have received a "death sentence" due to delays within the health service, Wes Streeting has said, as Keir Starmer stressed the need for more use of artificial intelligence and technology.

- Aletha Adu

The health secretary was speaking alongside the prime minister at the launch of what they described as the "biggest national conversation about the future of the NHS since it was founded 76 years ago".

But while Starmer tried to take an optimistic tone, alluding to the benefits and opportunities that could arise from a public conversation, Streeting warned that the NHS was in "such a poor state, I'm amazed we're not still using carrier pigeons".

The health secretary said: "The NHS is going through what is objectively the worst crisis in its history, whether it's people struggling to get access to their GP, dialling 999 and an ambulance not arriving in time, turning up to A&E departments and waiting far too long, sometimes on trolleys in corridors, or going through the ordeal of knowing that you're waiting for a diagnosis that could be the difference between life and death.

"Worse still, receiving a prognosis that amounts to a death sentence that could have been avoided, because the NHS didn't reach you in time.