Lib Dem manifesto reaction: IPPR supports focus on health and care

Reacting to health and care policies in the Liberal Democrat manifesto, Chris Thomas, head of IPPR’s cross-party Commission on Health and Prosperity, said:

“The Liberal Democrats have demonstrated they have their finger right on the political pulse of the country by putting health and care at the heart of their manifesto. These are the issues people care about and that desperately need solutions.

“Britain goes into this election with NHS waiting lists over seven million, nearly three million people out of work due to sickness and nearly half a million people stuck in a care backlog. Doing better is a social and economic imperative – on which the commitment to free personal care, long argued for by IPPR, will be particularly important.

“But all parties must swiftly realise the NHS, inherently a reactive sickness service, cannot deliver good health on its own. Our health and prosperity demands a plan to tackle the root causes of sickness – moudly housing, toxic air, obesity, bad work and debt – targeted at places where health and economic inequality coincide.”