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Wes Streeting has warned against “killing the NHS with kindness”, as he vowed not to back down in his mission to reform the health service.
Giving a speech on the main stage of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, the health secretary said the NHS is “broken but not beaten”, accusing the previous Conservative administration of having betrayed the service by leaving it “totally unprepared for tomorrow”.
Mr Streeting told delegates on the final day of the conference that the government won’t put “protecting the reputation of the NHS above protecting patients”.
This came after Ara Darzi’s independent investigation into the state of the NHS, published in September, concluded that the service is in a “critical condition” amid surging waiting lists and a deterioration in the nation’s underlying health.
Referencing the report, the health secretary said: “I know the doctor’s diagnosis can sometimes be hard to hear. But if you don’t have an accurate diagnosis, you won’t provide the correct prescription.
“And when you put protecting the reputation of the NHS above protecting patients, you’re not helping the NHS – you’re killing it with kindness.
“So I say respectfully, but unequivocally, I won’t back down. The NHS is broken but not beaten, and together we will turn it around.”
Mr Streeting told delegates that “a crack team” of senior doctors will be brought in to implement reforms aimed at getting patients treated faster and help people get back to work to reduce waiting lists, unemployment and economic inactivity.
According to the Office for National Statistics, some 2.8 million people are out of work due to ill health – 500,000 more than in 2019.
Some 85 per cent of those people are long-term sick, a report by the BCG and NHS Confederation published earlier this month found.
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the bill for sickness and disability benefits will soar by £30bn in the next five years.
The health secretary said: “We’re sending crack teams of top clinicians to hospitals across the country to roll out reforms – developed by surgeons – to treat more patients and cut waiting lists.
“And I can announce today that the first 20 hospitals targeted by these teams will be in areas with the highest numbers of people off work sick.
“Because our reforms are focused not only on delivering our health mission but also moving the dial on our growth mission too.
“We will take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS, get sick Brits back to health and back to work.”
