Labour’s pledge to cut waiting lists relies on paying staff properly, says BMA

The Labour Party’s plan to clear England’s NHS backlog could be in jeopardy if doctors’ pay is not restored, the BMA has warned.

The party’s leader, Keir Starmer, announced ahead of his party’s conference this week that a Labour government would commit an annual £1.1bn to provide two million more hospital appointments a year to tackle the waiting list of 7.7 million people in England. The commitment would be funded by ending the non-domicile tax status for the richest people, Starmer said. It would rely on existing NHS staff, who would be paid overtime to work evening and weekend shifts.

Starmer told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg television programme on 8 October that a plan …