Professor Judith Smith responds to the Darzi report, which the government commissioned to assess the NHS's current state in England.
“Lord Darzi has moved very quickly in preparing a blunt and excoriating assessment for the Labour Government of the current state of the NHS in England.
He leaves virtually no stone unturned, highlighting waiting lists for treatment; waiting times for GP appointments, mental health care, community services and accident and emergency; and pointing to the damaging and even sometimes deadly consequences of these for quality and outcomes of patient care. Darzi also describes in graphic detail the neglected nature of the NHS estate and a sustained failure to invest in and implement sufficient modern information and other technology.
The reasons for this decline in NHS performance over the past 15 years are asserted to include: financial austerity from 2015 onwards; robbing NHS capital funds to support revenue; the major NHS reorganisation initiated by the Lansley ‘reforms’ of 2013; the COVID-19 pandemic; allowing primary care, community, mental and public health to be starved of resources whilst the hospital sector expanded; and a failure to tackle much needed reform of social care.
The review is not however without hope. Darzi describes the NHS as having ‘strong vital signs’ and suggests seven themes for the 10-year NHS plan expected in spring 2025. Each theme represents a major challenge of investment, service change and political will. The prescription for the NHS will likely be long-term and radical, and very hard to dispense.”
Professor of Health Policy and Management
Professor Judith Smith is a highly experienced and widely published health services researcher and policy analyst in HSMC at the University of Birmingham.
