The provision of health services has, to some extent, always been controversial but we are lucky in Malta in that we have a consensus between all political forces that the health service model based on a welfare state is the one that has worked for us. And, at least on paper, all parties are committed to maintaining this model.

In health, quoting statistics is not enough

This consensus should not be taken for granted. In places like the USA, tax-funded health schemes have been, and still are, divisive issues fuelling huge national debates that have swung elections in one direction or the other.

I have been involved in the health services for the last 30 odd years and have had the privilege to work for a number of years outside of Malta, including a stint as paediatric surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital, one of the best paediatric hospitals in Europe.

I can safely say, with hand on heart, that, by and large, we have a very good health service, which has, over the last 50 years, served us well. We have good and dedicated practitioners, a modern hospital and, overall, a good level of service.

This is not to say that strategic mistakes have not been made in the past. The most recent – of which we are still bearing the consequences – being the lack of investment in the primary health sector.

But this is the thing with health. What in other areas may be considered a good result, with figures and statistics showing a reasonable level of service, with health, success is always relative. This is because here we are dealing with people, with individuals and their health.

So saying that 70, 80 or even 90 out of 100 are getting a good service is just not good enough. For even if one person is being neglected, or left to wait, then it is one too many. And this is where we need to strike, if we want to change things... at the heart of the matter.

The way we are proposing to change things is to first define a vision and have this supported by clear policies. What are our objectives? How will we measure ourselves?

We believe that these need to be centred round the patient. As with all modern servicing entities, we need to be customer centric. A culture of service excellence needs to prevail throughout, backed with the proper tools to make this effective. Unless we manage to get this right we would have failed.

We may have the best doctors, or the biggest hospital, or the most expensive equipment but if the patient is still not getting the service s/he expects, then it is just not good enough! This is not just about perception or window dressing.

Poor service is often coupled with poor results and poor outcomes. Above all, patient safety needs to be paramount.

Then we need to manage and administer well. The main problems mentioned on a regular basis can often be traced to bad management, lack of political leadership and poor consultation with the parties involved.

Is it possible that after so many years we still cannot solve the long queues at Emergency?

Of course we can and we are proposing that this will be sorted as one of the first projects to be tackled by a new Labour Administration.

Is it possible that we still cannot ensure that out-of-stock medicines become the exception rather than the norm? Of course we can and, once again, we have clear proposals on how to achieve this.

And what about the issue of bed availability? Is it possible that after spending millions of euros to build a new Mater Dei Hospital we are now to accept this situation as inevitable and expect our patients to live with beds in corridors? Of course not.

Over the last years we have been working on proposals to take our health services to the next level.

We will be empowering and supporting the people running these services to ensure they are best equipped to manage a service that is focused on the patient. At all stages we will work closely with the experts in the field: doctors, nurses and paramedics.

Working with the private sector, we intend to tackle operationally important issues including waiting lists, emergency queues, bed availability issues and the stocking and distribution of medicines.

At the same time, we will be embarking on a project to meet our vision of looking at the requirements of an aging population for the next 25 years and ensuring we develop our services to be able to cater for this as we move on.

Research and innovation are a must and not a luxury. The primary health sector must be revitalised. We cannot afford to continue to not plan and just engage in firefighting.

In order to continue financing a free health service, we need, as a country, to continue to generate wealth and grow the number of gainfully occupied persons. All of this while ensuring that everyone gets a fair chance and to cover those who, for some reason or the other, need help.

Health is the single most important issue in our life. One may have everything in life but if health fails then one has nothing.

And it is for this reason that a new Labour Administration will focus on this sector, delivering a service that builds on the good there is today by defining policies to ensure the administration of services in an efficient manner, driven by the focus of making the patient experience the best possible one.

On health, like in all other focus areas, we mean business.

Chris Fearne is a Labour electoral candidate.