Is the NHS badly run?

You don’t often hear calls for more managers to solve the crisis in the NHS. But at The Spectator’s Health Summit held in Westminster this week, a panel hosted by Isabel Hardman asking ‘Is the NHS badly run?’ came to that conclusion. Conservative MP and chair of the Health Committee Steve Brine, Labour’s shadow health minister Karin Smyth MP, NHS chief strategy officer Chris Hopson and director of the Reform think tank Charlotte Pickles all agreed that managers might be the answer. ‘The NHS is actually woefully under managed in terms of operational performance,’ said Pickles. ‘And that is an issue. And yes, in some instances you do want clinicians as managers and some you don’t. You want people who are really good managers.’

Who is to blame for the current state of the health service? Does the ultimate responsibility of the service lie with politicians or organisations like NHS England? Pickles pointed to the need for elected governments to have final say over health service decisions.