Ballooning” NHS waiting times and delays getting emergency treatment and cancer care is harming health and costing lives, according to a critical government-commissioned report on the service in England. People have “every right to be angry,” the prime minister will say on Thursday, adding the health service must “reform or die”.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned the NHS could “go bust” if the government does not reform it to account for an ageing society, more sick people and rising costs. He pledged to spend a greater proportion of the NHS budget on GPs, social care and “community services” than on hospitals, which he said would help alleviate pressure on the service overall.But the Conservatives said the government needed to turn “rhetoric to action” after scrapping its plans to reform social care and build new hospitals.
The report was the result of a nine-week review by the independent peer and NHS surgeon Lord Darzi.
He was asked by Labour, shortly after the election, to identify the failings in the health service, but his remit did not stretch to coming up with solutions.
His findings present a stark picture of a service which he says is in a “critical condition” and “serious trouble”.
In a speech later, Sir Keir Starmer will respond to the report by promising “the biggest reimagining of the NHS” since it was formed, with a new 10-year plan for the health service to be published in the coming months.
He will propose three key areas of reform: the transition to a digital NHS, moving more care from hospitals to communities, and focusing efforts on prevention over sickness.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Streeting added that primary care and community services would be “the first port of call” for new money – not hospitals. Rather than a country with an NHS, we’re going to have an NHS with a country attached to it if we’re not careful, and more likely an NHS that goes bust,” the health secretary said.
Source: BBC
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