Prime Minster, Keir Starmer, has pledged the ‘biggest reimagining of our NHS since its birth’ in a speech following the publication of ‘a full and independent investigation into the state of the NHS’.
The Department of Health & Social Care says Lord Ara Darzi’s probe, and the resulting 142-page report, has concluded that the service is in a ‘critical condition, amidst surging waiting lists and a deterioration in the nation’s underlying health, identifying serious and widespread problems for people accessing services’.
The Prime Minister said in a speech yesterday that the scale of the damage done to the NHS the report reveals is ‘unforgivable’ He also addressed the causes ‘behind the state of the NHS’, including the long-term impacts of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act, described in the report as ‘a calamity without international precedent’, which ‘proved disastrous’, as well as ‘the far-reaching consequences of underinvestment throughout the 2010s’.
Keit Starmer said: “Our NHS went into the pandemic in a much more fragile state, with higher bed occupancy rates, fewer doctors, fewer nurses, and fewer beds, than most other high income health systems in the world. Let’s be clear about what caused that – a ‘scorched earth’ approach to health reform, the effects of which are still felt today.”
Lord Darzi (pictured) describes ‘the 2010s’ as ‘the most austere decade since the NHS was founded’, with ‘crumbling buildings, decrepit portacabins, and mental health patients accommodated in Victorian-era cells infested with vermin’. His report says: ‘The 2010s were a lost decade for our NHS…which left it unable to be there for patients today, and totally unprepared for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow. As well as recognising the cost to people’s health, the Prime Minister also addressed ‘the inextricable link between the state of the NHS and the nation’s economy’, with 2.8 million people economically inactive due to long-term sickness, and over half of those on current waiting lists for inpatient treatment working age adults.
In the face of the ‘dire findings’, and the growing pressures on the NHS from an ageing society and preventable illnesses, Keir Starmer set out his belief in the ‘profound responsibility’ of government ‘to do the hard work necessary to tackle them’:
‘Rooted in Lord Darzi’s diagnoses of the challenges facing the NHS’, he outlined three ‘fundamental areas of reform’, and the imperative to work with staff and patients throughout this process. He announced that the current government is ‘working at pace’ to build a Ten-Year Plan – ‘framed around three big shifts’:
- Moving from an analogue to a digital NHS;
- Shifting more care from hospitals to communities, and
- A ‘much bolder’ approach in ‘moving from sickness to prevention’.
Lord Darzi is an independent peer and practising surgeon, with 30 years’ experience in the NHS. He examined over 600 pieces of analysis from DHSC, NHS England, and external organisations during his investigation. His report will inform the government’s 10-year plan to reform the health service. He said: “Although I have worked in the NHS for more than 30 years, I have been shocked by what I have found during this investigation –- not just in the health service, but in the state of the nation’s health. We want to deliver high-quality care for all, but far too many people are waiting for too long, and in too many clinical areas, quality of care has gone backwards. My NHS colleagues are working harder than ever, but our productivity has fallen.”
He continued: “We get caught up frantically trying to find beds that have been axed, using outdated IT, or trying to work out how to get things done because operational processes are overwhelmed. It sucks the joy from our work; we became clinicians to help patients get better, not to go into battle with a broken system. We need to rebalance the system towards care in the community, rather than adding more and more staff to hospitals, and we need a more honest conversation about performance – the NHS is now an open book.”
Lord Darzi added that with it having taken over a decade for the NHS ‘to fall into disrepair’, it would ‘take time to fix it’, although he is confident ‘we will do it again’.
Despite the damning analysis, Lord Darzi insists ‘the NHS’s vital signs remain strong’, and he praised staff for their ‘shared passion and determination to make the NHS better for our patients’.
In undertaking the review, Lord Darzi brought together more than 70 organisations in an Expert Reference Group, and sought input from NHS staff and patients through focus groups and frontline visits.
Responding to the report, Secretary of State for Health, Wes Streeting said: “I asked Lord Darzi to tell hard truths about the state of the NHS. He has produced an honest, expert, and comprehensive report on the appalling state that our health service is in. Today’s findings will inform our 10-year plan to radically reform the NHS and get patients treated on time again.
The damage done to the NHS has been more than a decade in the making. We clearly have a long road ahead, but while the NHS is broken, it’s not beaten. We will turn the NHS around so it is there for you when you need it, once again.”