PERHAPS one of the most important aspects of the 2024 General Election was that people put their trust in Labour to repair the broken National Health Service (NHS).

Labour created the NHS in 1948 and rescued it the last time it was on its knees in 1997. By the time Labour left office in 2010, patient satisfaction levels were the highest since records began. Then, under the Conservatives, the rot set in once again.

Waiting lists soared. People struggled to get appointments with GPs, and Cornwall became a dentistry desert. Remarkably, the number one reason that children were admitted to hospital was tooth decay. The NHS we inherited was utterly broken. Staff morale was at rock bottom and ongoing doctors' strikes meant decline seemed terminal.

The Reform leader suggested the solution was to introduce a private insurance-based system, essentially a 'pay-as-you-go' system, breaking the entire ‘free at the point of use’ philosophy that has been the bedrock on which the NHS has been built for nearly 80 years.

That is not, nor never will be, the philosophy adopted by Labour. Healthcare is not a privilege to be bought and sold, but a right to be cherished and protected.

For me, this is personal. My dad was a GP at Pool Health Centre (now Carn to Coast) for over 40 years. He was an ‘old-school’ family doctor, the type that Labour will be returning. My mum was a nurse at Treliske Hospital back in the days when there were no long queues of ambulances outside A&E.

When Labour came to power last year, Health Secretary Wes Streeting knew that radical action was required to stop the rot. The immediate task was to deal with the strikes - sitting down and talking with the doctors and agreeing a long-overdue pay deal. He then put his shoulder to identifying the waste and duplication which was tolerated by the last Government. The announcement that he was scrapping NHS England - the NHS mega-quango - was radical, and the Darsi Report gave a clear indication of the areas for improvements across the NHS.

Mr Streeting has woven these opportunities into the Labour 10 year strategy for the NHS launched last week. The plan will deliver three big shifts in how the NHS works: First, from hospital to community - more care will be available on your doorstep and from the comfort of your own home. It will be easier to see a GP, and Neighbourhood Health Centres will be available in every community; secondly, from analogue to digital - new technology will liberate staff from timewasting admin and make booking appointments and managing care easier; and finally, from sickness to prevention.

And it will tackle some of the enduring health inequalities plaguing our country, making sure that those in remote, coastal, and deprived communities like so many of us in Cornwall are no longer served last. In just the first year we’ve seen waiting lists drop to the lowest level for two years, but we know we have a long, long way to go.