Video: Tom Pilston
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00:00 I will die in a ditch before we abandon the NHS's fundamental principles as a public service that's free at the point of use.
00:11 It inspired you and informed you about what Labour could do in government.
00:15 Labour's fundamental approach to reform is to take the best of the NHS, because we do see pockets of innovation, to the rest of the NHS.
00:25 A Labour government can make a transformational difference. I genuinely think this election is existential for the NHS without a Labour government and that different approach we will bring.
00:34 But I'm also not naive enough to think that we're going to change the NHS because one person sat behind one desk in Whitehall has changed, or even the team in government has changed.
00:46 What will Labour actually do? How do you effect that change? I mean there are best practices, but how do you roll that out across the country?
00:53 Is that something that Labour will do in government or is it enabling NHS Trust to do that?
00:58 It is a tragedy that the NHS is going through the worst crisis in its history and we see the consequences for patients.
01:04 It is also an appalling waste of taxpayers' money because whether it's mental health or physical health, the principle is the same.
01:13 Prevention is better than cure. There are a couple of things that we need to do to set the system free.
01:19 The first thing is to provide absolute clarity about what that reform means.
01:24 And for me it's fundamentally about three things. A shift out of the hospital into the community.
01:30 Better primary care, community services, mental health, social care.
01:34 The second shift is from analogue to digital.
01:38 How do we use the revolution that's taking place in life sciences and technology from big data sets and machine learning and AI through to the latest drugs and treatments.
01:51 And the third big shift is from sickness to prevention.
01:54 I will die in a ditch before we abandon the NHS's fundamental principles as a public service that's free at the point of use, there for us when it's needed.
02:07 When you talk about reform you're still getting a lot of resistance from structures in the NHS, the unions and so on.
02:13 How are you going to make that case in a really concrete way at the election in a manifesto to win over the unions and to win over voters that reform isn't going to mean more private providers in the NHS and something that they don't feel like is the NHS anymore.
02:29 How do you make that case that it's not suddenly going to be this massive revolution?
02:32 It's about a partnership with the private sector but the NHS remaining always a public service free at the point of use.
02:39 of use.