NHS at risk of paralysis while waiting for Wes Streeting’s reforms, says thinktank

The NHS is at risk of paralysis while it waits for Wes Streeting’s 10-year plan for reform and needs to be empowered to get on with change in the face of huge waiting times for care, a thinktank has said.

Victor Adebowale, a cross-bench peer and chair of the Institute for Public Policy Research, said a clear message is needed from Streeting that leaders in the health service should be able to start bringing in reforms where they are aligned with the government’s priorities.

He described long waits for care as “the tragic new normal” for many patients in the NHS and highlighted IPPR analysis showing that 25 times more people waited over four hours in A&E this summer than during the same period in 2009.

Lord Adebowale is also chair of the NHS Confederation, the membership body for health authorities and trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Writing in his role as IPPR chair, he said several senior NHS leaders have described to the thinktank “a feeling of ‘sitting and waiting’ for the 10-year plan, unable to initiate major change in the meantime”.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 December 2024