Our NHS needs fundamental reform… but before we write the prescription we’ll diagnose problem with independent probe
IT’S clear to anyone who works in or uses the NHS that it is broken.
Patients are waiting more than a year for an operation.
They cannot get through the front door for a GP appointment.
And when they call an ambulance, they do not know if or when one will arrive.
During the election campaign, I heard from people across the country who had been let down by the NHS.
A man in Nottingham told me about his 88-year-old mother who fell out of bed and, despite repeated 999 calls, waited three hours on the floor before an ambulance was sent.
I met an RAF veteran in Worcester, injured in service, who had been waiting 15 months for an operation.
He takes painkillers to get through the day.
These are not exceptional cases.
This is what is happening to patients up and down the country.
Unlike the last government, we are not looking for excuses.
I am certainly not going to blame NHS staff, who bust a gut for their patients.
This government is going to be honest about the challenges facing us, and serious about solving them.
We can turn the NHS around.
But before we write the prescription, we need to diagnose the problem.
Today, I’m announcing an independent investigation into the performance of the NHS.
It will be led by one of the NHS’s leading experts, Lord Ara Darzi.
He has more than 30 years’ experience in the NHS and is perfectly placed to conduct this important work.
I’ve asked Lord Darzi to tell the hard truths.
The NHS and my department have been instructed to hand him whatever information he needs.
Honesty is the best policy, and this report will provide patients, staff and myself with a full and frank assessment of the state of the NHS, warts and all.
We can turn the NHS around. But before we write the prescription, we need to diagnose the problem
Wes Streeting
It is going to take time to turn the NHS around — we were honest about that before the election.
Sticking-plasters will not be enough to heal it. It will require fundamental reform.
We have pledged a ten-year plan to make the NHS fit for the future, which we will be consulting patients, experts and staff on soon.
The NHS has been wrecked.
This investigation will be the survey, before we draw up plans to rebuild it anew, so it can be there for all of us when we need it, once again.
While this work is going on, we have hit the ground running in delivering on our first steps, including ramping up to the 40,000 extra appointments a week we promised in our manifesto.
I have also met the junior doctors committee, to get talks going and end the strikes.
And the British Dental Association, to discuss delivering 700,000 extra emergency dentistry appointments and reform of the dental contract.
All of this is what we promised to do before the election, and what we are delivering after the election.
A healthy economy
I have also set a new priority for the Department of Health and Social Care: Economic growth.
A healthy economy depends on us building a healthy society.
I do not intend to be another Health Secretary who only ever turns up to the Treasury with a begging bowl.
I intend to deliver billions of pounds in growth to the Treasury.
There are 2.8million people out of work today, held back due to ill health.
By cutting waiting lists, we will get Britain back to health and back to work.
And by helping people live healthier lives, we can stop them falling ill and out of the workforce.
We can make the UK a life sciences and medical technology powerhouse.
During the pandemic, the care of our National Health Service was combined with the genius of our country’s leading scientific minds to deliver the Covid vaccine.
Imagine the modern treatments we could develop, not to mention the jobs and investment, if we rekindled that partnership.
Under huge strain
And we’ll use the NHS to create job opportunities up and down the country, to deliver faster and more equitable growth for all communities.
The NHS is under huge strain today. But the opportunities ahead of us are enormous.
In my time shadowing this department, and now leading it, I have met countless people working in the NHS and social care at every level.
I’ve been inspired by their passion, care, and commitment.
Together, I’m confident that we can pull the NHS out of the biggest crisis in its history, get it back on its feet and make it fit for the future.
The NHS saved my life.
Now I’m determined to save our NHS.