Keir Starmer confident NHS staff will work weekends to clear waiting lists

The Labour leader said his party is planning to provide £1.1bn for overtime payments if it wins the General Election, so hospital staff can conduct two million extras operations, scans and appointments every year.

He claimed the money would come from scrapping non-dom tax status, a loophole which allows people living in the UK to avoid paying tax on foreign income if their permanent home is overseas.

During a visit to St James's University Hospital in Leeds, he spoke to staff on the colorectal unit who have completed around 15 per cent of their operations at weekends since they agreed to work more overtime.

“They are happy to volunteer for it and there was a certain pride among the team about doing it,” said Sir Keir.

“Not only is it very good for the individuals anxiously waiting for operations, it’s good for the economy because there are too many people who can’t work because they're waiting for operations.

“It’s also good for NHS staff, because they feel the pressure of the waiting list. The sooner we can get that down the better.”

He also said Rishi Sunak could roll out weekend working nationwide to ease pressure on the NHS this winter and fulfil his promise of cutting waiting lists by the end of the year.

The latest NHS figures show patients were waiting for 7.7m treatments and procedures at the end of October, down from a record high of 7.8m the previous month.

The figures also show 391,122 people in England had been waiting for more than a year for treatment in September, down from 396,643 the previous month.

The Tories have claimed Labour’s weekend working plan is not fully costed, as it is has already made plans to spend money raised by scrapping non-dom tax status on four other policies.

Research by The London School of Economics suggests cosing the loophole will raise more than £3.2bn of tax revenue each year.

It comes as NHS hospitals are expecting disruption this week, as junior doctors are due to stage a 72-hour strike, which begins at 7am on Wednesday, as part of a row over pay.

The British Medical Association is demanding a 35 per cent pay rise, claiming it will restore the value of their pay to 2008 levels.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that increase “is not something an incoming Labour government will be able to do overnight”.

“Everyone knows the Conservatives have left the public finances in a total mess,” he said. “Getting back to paying NHS staff fairly will be a journey, not an event.”

Earlier this month, the Home Office announced a raft of new measures designed to curb legal migration by 300,000 people a year.

It said the changes will not affect doctors and nurses, but they do prevent care workers from bringing family members to the UK and some employers are concerned this will exacerbate the existing staff shortage.

Speaking during a visit to Leeds, Mr Streeting said the NHS and social care providers have become “over reliant” on overseas workers and they are “poaching” people from countries like Nepal even though it is struggling with a shortage.

He said Labour will focus on training “homegrown talent” if it wins the next election, by creating an extra 7,500 medical school places each year and another 10,000 places for nursing and midwifery students, and introduce a new pay deal for care workers.

“We have a practical and a moral case for reducing our reliance on overseas healthcare workers and training up our homegrown talent,” he said.

“That also applies to social care. Because we pay peanuts and don't create a career structure for care professionals, people often find they are better off working at Aldi or Asda.”