Steve Barclay has said a “belief in personal freedom” is key to the Conservative approach to illness prevention as he defended the Government’s record on healthcare.
Speaking at the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), the Health Secretary suggested the NHS should “double down” on giving patients more control over their care.
Labour accused Mr Barclay of failing to mention the health service is now facing “potentially the most disastrous strikes in its history” in the wide-ranging speech.
This is how I am approaching public health in my role as Health Secretary - a deeply pragmatic approach that empowers adults and better protects children— Health Secretary Steve Barclay
The Government has also come under fire from health campaigners for delaying its promised ban on two-for-one junk food deals, but the Health Secretary defended the move on Tuesday.
“This Conservative government is giving people choice,” he told the CPS.
“We want families to have the freedom to choose which deals work best for them as they plan their weekly budgets to meet higher global food prices.
“The war in Ukraine – and the wider global economic situation – were not a factor when our proposals on buy-one-get-one-free were drawn up.”
He claimed that while allowing individual freedom over healthcare is at the heart of the Government’s strategy, a “pragmatic” approach would also sometimes involve intervention.
“It’s wrong that disposable vapes were being marketed to children when it is illegal to sell any vapes to children … That’s why we recently cracked down on underage sales with our illicit vapes enforcement squad and why we ran a call for evidence on youth vaping,” Mr Barclay said.
“This is how I am approaching public health in my role as Health Secretary – a deeply pragmatic approach that empowers adults and better protects children. ”
His comments come after a report by The King’s Fund found the NHS is lagging behind its peers in some areas and is “not by any means where we should be”.
The service is performing poorly on healthcare outcomes across several different major disease groups and health conditions linked to avoidable mortality, according to the review.
Mr Barclay insisted the Government’s “targeted” strategy for prevention would help ensure treatments are provided on the basis of need and sought to contrast it with what he described as Labour’s “one size fits all approach”.
The Opposition said the Conservatives were “not fit to run a bath, let alone the NHS”.
A Labour spokesman said: “The NHS is facing potentially the most disastrous strikes in its history yet the Health Secretary forgot to mention them, let alone say how he plans to resolve this dispute.”
It comes amid long-running disputes over pay between the Government and healthcare staff, which earlier on Tuesday saw hospital consultants across England vote heavily in favour of industrial action.
More than 24,000 members of the British Medical Association (BMA) backed strikes by 86% on a turnout of 71%, well above the legal threshold of 50%.
The BMA said that unless the Government makes a “credible offer” which can be put to its members, industrial action will take place on July 20 and 21 – just days after junior doctors in England are due to strike for five days.
