The NHS desperately needs a new vision for the 21st century | Lord Darzi

The people of the UK deserve the best health service in the world and with the clinical talent and scientific innovations at our disposal, we can achieve it

Next year the NHS will be 70 years old. For seven decades it has been there for us at times of most basic human need, offering care and compassion. The NHS has been a vital friend to millions: it belongs to the people, and is cherished by the public. I want to see it not just survive but thrive: the NHS deserves a secure future that gives us confidence that it will celebrate its centenary in a little more than 30 years from now.

All political parties declare their affections for the NHS and promise to protect it. There is a strong cross-party consensus on retaining a health service that is based on need, not ability to pay. Yet there are enormous questions on how the NHS is funded and how the system functions. In the autumn budget 2017, Philip Hammond, the chancellor, rightly put more money into the NHS, but the service has still endured the most austere decade in its history while funding for social care has declined almost every year since the start of the decade. Simply demanding more for less or promising more money without a plan for better care isn’t good enough. The re-emergence of rationing of care, waiting times that are on the rise, and deteriorating financial performance means that change is becoming urgent as well as important.

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Continue reading... December 17, 2017 at 05:35AM