The NHS turns 75 today and it has never been in a worse state.
One in eight of us, 7.4 million people, are waiting for NHS treatment, and waiting lists are growing.
A cancer diagnosis in this country is more likely to be a death sentence than in most comparable countries. People here are more likely to die from treatable diseases, like heart attacks and strokes. As a result, we live shorter lives than citizens of other wealthy countries.
NHS radiologists are the latest to vote no confidence in the Conservative government. Patients have already seen 650,000 operations and appointments cancelled due to industrial action, yet Rishi Sunak has not spent a second in negotiations with NHS staff. Next week will see junior doctors begin a five-day walkout, followed by two-days of consultant strikes, which the NHS warns will be even “more significant” than what has come already. The government has lost the confidence of NHS staff and has no plan to win it back.
Yet today, we will witness the absurd spectacle of Conservative Ministers celebrating the 75th birthday of an institution they have broken. Rishi Sunak will hope that Diamond anniversary parties will help the public forget that the NHS is far from a diamond service today. NHS staff deserve our ever-lasting gratitude for the effort they put in day-in, day-out to care for us. But staff and patients alike don’t want to see the Prime Minister cutting cake, they want him cutting deals to bring NHS strikes to an end.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that public confidence in the NHS has slumped to historic lows. Public satisfaction today in the service is even lower than it was when Labour took office in 1997 – and the challenge of turning it around will be greater.
Two-tier fears
Polling this week from the Health Foundation found that 71 per cent of Brits expect to have to pay for NHS services in the next 10 years. The fears are understandable given the state of things today. The vultures smell blood and are circling.
Having run down the NHS for the past 13 years, the architects of the crisis now argue that a publicly funded health service providing treatment free at the point of use is “unsustainable.” Former Health Secretaries Sajid Javid and Matt Hancock propose charging for GP appointments and entry to A&E.
Other Conservatives support the emerging two-tier healthcare system, where those who can afford to pay to go private, while the rest are left behind. They want tax breaks for private healthcare. They would leave the NHS to wither on the vine, never again the envy of the world.
Labour can stop the rot
I don’t share the pessimism about the future of the NHS. There is a brighter future within our grasp.
Labour will never allow the founding principles of the NHS to be surrendered. Not only because they are the fairest way to provide healthcare, central to our society’s values. But also, as a universal, single-payer service, it ought to be the best placed healthcare system in the world to take advantage of changing technology and new medicines.
It can give the life sciences sector access to a diverse and large population to trial new treatments and technologies. It can offer medical technologists a huge bulk purchase for modern equipment, with a good deal on price in return. Patients in this country could get first access cutting-edge breakthroughs in treatment and care, as a result.
The opportunities provided by the revolution in medical technology, life sciences, genomics and data can be game changers. Clement Attlee and Nye Bevan would have had no idea when they created the NHS, but the values on which they built it are more relevant today than in 1948.
That’s not to say the health service doesn’t require deep reforms. Where and how healthcare is provided needs turning on its head, from a hospital-centric service to one that provides far more care on people’s doorsteps and in the comfort of their own home. Every part of government should have the mantra “prevention is better than cure” drilled into it, so we live healthier lives.
The future of the NHS is on the ballot at the next election. Don’t buy the pessimism of the Conservatives. Things can get better. The last Labour government delivered the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history. It will fall to the next Labour government to rescue the NHS from the biggest crisis in its history, and renew the service so it is still there for us for the next 75 years.
