The NHS needs reform, not more money, the health secretary said, while acknowledging that record-high waiting lists will continue to grow before they fall.
Sajid Javid said the health service already has the necessary resources and no longer requires more to care for patients effectively. “The National Health Service has now locked in the resources it needs. No more money needed. What you need to provide for more people is not money. There is a need for reform, “he said.
In an interview with the Times, he compared the NHS to the now-defunct Blockbuster video rental chain, arguing that it needed to be drastically restructured to continue to provide healthcare for free on site.
“You want to have a system that, yes, has values from 1948, but looking at delivery by 2048,” he said.
Javid made the same comparison at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, saying the country has a “blockbuster health system in the Netflix era”, although he later defended his comments, saying he did not mean it should be a service , based on subscription.
Javid also called for the chancellor’s plans to reduce the income tax by 1 pence in 2024 to be postponed until next year. “I want to see a small country that focuses on delivering things that really matter, and I want to see taxes as low as possible,” he said. The cuts would do little to help those who bear the brunt of the cost of living crisis, with 80% of benefits going to the top half of the winners.
The Secretary of Health’s remarks on health care funding follow a horrific report showing that the NHS has lost almost 25,000 beds in the UK over the last decade. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said the decline had led to a sharp increase in waiting times for A&E, ambulances and surgeries and was causing “real harm to patients” and a “serious crisis in patient safety”.
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Speaking the same week, when a viral video showed a nurse telling patients they were facing a 13-hour wait in an overcrowded emergency room, Javid acknowledged that NHS waiting lists would continue to grow.
“I was very honest, the waiting lists will continue to grow before they fall,” he told the Times. “People value honesty. They want ministers to be honest and treat them like adults. “He said people understand that significant challenges remain after the Covid pandemic.
He insisted that health service reform is needed. “It is absolutely possible to stimulate change and reform in the NHS and we have to do it, it is not a choice,” he said, adding that his budget this year exceeds Greece’s GDP. “We believe that by the end of this parliament, it will represent more than 40% of daily government spending.
Javid stopped calling for cuts to the NHS budget and said he did not want to see a “cut in important health services”. “What you can certainly do is reduce NHS spending growth and provide more at the same time,” he said.
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