Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting has today ordered Professor Lord Darzi to carry out a “raw and frank assessment” of the state of the NHS, as the latest performance data shows the mountain the new government has to climb.
The findings of the report — which Streeting expects to “uncover hard truths” — are scheduled to be delivered by September and will form the foundations for the government’s 10-year NHS reform plan.
On his first day of office, Streeting proclaimed that the official position of his department was that the NHS was broken. “This government will be honest about the challenges facing the health service, and serious about tackling them,” said Streeting.
“This investigation will uncover hard truths and I’ve asked for nothing to be held back. I trust Lord Darzi will leave no stone unturned and have told him to speak truth to power.”
Prof Darzi is chair of surgery across Imperial College London, the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. He was also both an advisor and minister in the last two Labour governments. During Gordon Brown’s premiership, he notably led the High Quality Care For All report.
He has said that the review will centre around analysing how the NHS got to this position, so the health service can use that as a springboard to re-establish quality of care as the NHS’s organising principle.
NHS England’s CEO, Amanda Pritchard, has welcomed the announcement, describing the report as an “important step” in building the NHS that is fit for the future.
The news comes after the health secretary visited London’s Abbey Medical Centre — a move symbolic of the direction of travel expected under the new government, with more funds funnelled into primary care.
He has also added Karin Smyth and Stephen Kinnock as health ministers, as well as Andrew Gwynne and Baroness Merron and parliamentary under-secretaries.
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