The Guardian view on Labour’s NHS plan: it is right to celebrate medical science, but delivery is the hard part | Editorial

The NHS is a totemic institution in Labour’s history and that of the country, and voters care more about it than most things the government does. So the publication of Labour’s 10-year plan for health in England was a crucial opportunity for ministers to show that they are in tune with the public. Given that satisfaction with the health service has hit a record low of 21%, and doctors are again threatening to go on strike, the announcement was also a moment of peril – even before the damage suffered by the prime minister and chancellor earlier this week, when rebels forced a U-turn on planned cuts to welfare.

The overarching principles of Labour’s reforms were set out last year: more prevention, more technology, more care delivered in the community (as opposed to in hospital)….