The NHS must now put patients first

Last week, the Government announced that the NHS would receive a £200 million funding boost ahead of the winter. Today, The Daily Telegraph reveals that NHS England has drawn up plans for three new departments focused on diversity and inclusion, with a combined staffing budget of almost £14 million.

Earlier in the year, Health Secretary Steve Barclay ordered the health service to scrap specific diversity and inclusion jobs as part of a drive to “ensure good value for money”. 

With the NHS backlog at its worst ever level, and some 7.7 million people awaiting treatment, it would seem obvious that this money could be better spent on speeding up cancer referrals and operations. It appears that the NHS bureaucracy disagrees.

Despite huge increases in spending, British cancer survival rates are far behind the European average. Delays in diagnosis and treatments mean that far too many people are receiving treatment too late for it to matter.

It is no doubt of little comfort to those desperately awaiting life-saving treatments that the care they are not receiving would have been conducted in a highly culturally sensitive manner. 

The British public retains a great deal of affection for the NHS, but persistent underperformance coupled with ever greater funding demands is beginning to erode patience.

The health service is one of the world’s largest employers, with more than 1.6 million staff, and an annual budget of £160 billion. Yet despite these considerable resources, and despite the Government repeatedly adding to its budget, waiting lists continue to grow.

While the public expects the NHS to exert every effort on bringing down backlogs and restoring their loved ones to health, it seems that parts of the NHS are focused instead upon make-work schemes for bureaucrats. This cannot stand. 

As we enter the run-up to the general election, the Conservatives have an opportunity to take a stronger position on the NHS. Despite repeated attempts by democratically elected politicians to bring the health service to heel, it remains fundamentally unreformed.

As Rishi Sunak seeks a winning electoral offer, insisting that the health service ditches its obsession with spreading woke directives and instead puts taxpayers’ money towards delivering for patients would be a good starting point.