'Englands NHS waiting lists have fallen - under Labour-run Wales they are rising'

In my role as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, I am focused on making our NHS faster, simpler and fairer for patients in every local community in England. As we emerge from the long shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, we know the NHS faces huge challenges.

That’s why this government has taken bold action and put record funding into the NHS, it is why the NHS now has record numbers of doctors and nurses, and why we have put in place the very first long term workforce plan to make sure the NHS will have the staff it needs in the years ahead.

But we also know that the NHS will need to adapt as more and more of us live longer, because we want to make sure that we lead longer, healthier lives, free for as long as possible from injury and illness in old age. So we need to modernise the NHS for the future.

That means investing in more out-of-hospital services and use of technology such as the NHS App, so that people can get the care they need more conveniently at the same time as helping reduce pressure on hospitals.

Local health services such as GP surgeries and pharmacies are a crucial part of this. Every day these are the front door to the NHS for millions of people in England’s villages, towns and cities. We have a clear plan and we are taking action.

We have built a network of 160 new Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) that are already providing millions of tests and scans locally. We have invested £1 billion in our Primary Care Recovery Plan to help tackle the 8am rush at the GP surgery, and earlier this year we launched the landmark Pharmacy First scheme, allowing people to visit their pharmacy without an appointment for the treatment of seven common conditions, all without needing to see your GP.

In the latest Budget we also announced a £3.4bn technology upgrade for the NHS. I want to see the latest AI technology deployed in our healthcare system, and for all patients to be able to use the NHS App to access their medical records, order prescriptions, book vaccine appointments, access a digital red book, and manage their hospital appointments.

This Conservative Government has ensured that record numbers can see their GP.

We have achieved our 2019 manifesto commitment to deliver 50 million additional appointments each year, and we have increased the number of health professionals working in primary care by 39,473 compared to March 2019 – exceeding our manifesto target to hire 26,000 additional roles.

We are already implementing the biggest-ever expansion of training in the NHS’s history, and as part of this we are increasing GP training places and pharmacy training places by 50% by 2031.

A re-elected Conservative Government will deliver even more out-of-hospital GP, pharmacy and community diagnostic services for local communities. We will build 50 new CDCs, delivering a further 2.5m checks and diagnostic tests a year once scaled, on top of the 9m tests the existing 160 CDCs will deliver.

We will build or modernise 250 GP surgeries, creating an additional 5 million GP appointments a year. We will expand the hugely popular Pharmacy First so that it offers women more contraceptive options, delivers menopause support, and provides treatment for skin and chest infections.

This will save a further 10 million GP appointments on top of the 10 million GP appointments the existing scheme will save.By sticking to our plan, I am determined to carry on driving down NHS waiting lists - at the same time as preparing the NHS for the big challenges coming down the tracks. The plan is working and we are making progress.

In England we have seen waiting lists fall – in Labour-run Wales, by contrast, waiting lists are rising, with Welsh patients waiting nearly seven weeks longer than in England.

So the choice at the coming election is a stark one, between the Conservatives' long term plan for the future of our NHS, and Keir Starmer and Labour, who have no plan and no clue how to tackle the big questions facing healthcare in our country.