Health - today's featured policy, Monday 19 April
The NHS represents values which unite us as a nation - a comprehensive health service, which treats all people equally, and is free when we need it.
We've all experienced moments in hospitals that change the course of our lives. Liberal Democrats know how important the NHS is and that's why we will ensure that the NHS provides high quality care and the best possible service long into the future.
A lot of money has been invested in health in recent years but too much of that has been wasted on bureaucracy rather than investing in frontline services. Doctors and nurses are forced to spend too much time trying to meet government targets rather than caring for patients. And government ministers make decisions about closing local services from the comfort of their offices rather than facing the people it affects.
Liberal Democrats believe that patients must come first and that services would improve if local people had a say in how the NHS is run.
We believe in fairness with entitlements to healthcare guaranteed. We believe access to personal care should be based on need not the ability to pay. And we believe that patients should always come first.
We will scrap central targets and guarantee that you get your treatment on time. We will give people the power to stop hospital closures in their area through elected local health boards. And we will put doctors and nurses back in charge of their hospitals and wards.
Liberal Democrats want a people-centred NHS, fit for the 21st century.
Related Links
- Read more about the Liberal Democrat health policies