Health Secretary Sajid Javid has published a new recovery plan to tackle NHS waiting lists (PA).
(Picture: PA Wire)NHS waiting lists are going to get longer before they get shorter. That’s the considered view of Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who has warned that the backlog will not be cleared for two years.
In the autumn, nearly one million Londoners were awaiting treatment. The figure today, following the Omicron variant, is likely to be higher still. These alarming numbers demonstrate the scale of the challenge facing the health service after two years fighting a pandemic.
The cash to allocate additional resources to the NHS, funded by the rise in National Insurance, will understandably lead to higher expectations of when people can receive long-delayed care. Many are likely to be disappointed. Furthermore, this money can only be a short-term solution, given that it is supposed to be shortly diverted to the social care system.
With an aging population driving ever-increasing demands for healthcare, questions of how we fund the NHS and social care will dominate our political debate for years and decades to come.
Hammers’ own goal
It was a footballing decision, you see. Kurt Zouma, the West Ham defender, was selected to play for the team hours after footage emerged of him kicking and slapping his pet cat.
It did not require the sudden announcement and implosion of the European Super League to burst the idea that English football was a purely sporting endeavour, shielded from money, greed and sheer stupidity.
As Hammers’ boss David Moyes points out, it is the manager’s job to pick the best team. But the club should have taken the decision out of his hands.
