How to fix the NHS: a doctor’s prescription | 17 October 2014

I’m a doctor, and I don’t care about the NHS. In this country, that’s an almost heretical statement — but it’s true. What I mean is that I have absolutely no interest in ensuring its survival simply because it’s a great national treasure. What I care about is making sure that we have the best possible and most cost-effective healthcare system. And as it happens, despite the strikes, panic and doom-mongering, I think the NHS — by which I mean a nationalised healthcare model — is the best option available, if only someone were brave enough to make the right changes in the right way.

Don’t expect this government to try. Senior cabinet ministers said this week that their attempt to reform the NHS (which culminated in the 2012 NHS Health and Social Care Act) was their ‘biggest mistake since coming to power’. As angry, beleaguered nurses and frontline staff begin striking, there is a cross-party consensus that the NHS can’t be touched: it’s just too toxic politically.