UK's Starmer unveils plan to ease hospital backlogs

Britain's struggling National Health Service (NHS) will expand the use of so-called community diagnostic centers, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Monday, as his Labour government bids to cut hospital backlogs.

The new plan, which also includes increasing private sector involvement and the use of technology alongside other steps, aims to free up millions of hospital appointment slots.

Starmer's government -- elected last July -- has vowed to revitalize the overburdened NHS, which has nearly 7.5 million patients languishing on waiting lists.

It is aiming to hit a target of 92 percent of patients getting a referral appointment within 18 weeks by the end of this parliament in 2029.

Currently, four in 10 people have waited longer than the target.

"This is the year we roll up our sleeves and reform the NHS," Starmer said in a speech at a hospital in Surrey, southeast England.

The UK leader promised "a new era of convenience in care", calling community diagnostic centers a "game-changer" and promising more of them alongside 17 new or expanded surgical hubs.

"We will open them, more of them -- and they will be seven days a week, 12 hours a day," he added of the diagnostic centres, arguing they will deliver 440,000 extra tests and scans yearly.

"So that if you need a scan or an X-ray, you get it done much more quickly -- and at your convenience."

The plan also includes a new agreement increasing the role of private healthcare in some sectors.

This is typically contentious in Britain, where some fear the creep of private providers into the publicly-funded system will undermine it.

"I know some people won't like this, but I make no apologies," Starmer insisted, adding "Change is urgent".

"I'm not interested in putting ideology before patients."