DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Only radical reform can cure ailing NHS

By DAILY MAIL COMMENT

Published: | Updated:

Health Secretary Wes Streeting says if the NHS can’t be modernised it will ‘go the way of Woolworths, a beloved national institution that failed to change with the times and died’.

It’s easy to see what he means and hard to disagree in principle. But there is a huge difference between those two institutions.

Woolworths was a private company in a highly competitive market. When it failed, it was quickly replaced by smarter, more efficient and more nimble retailers.

With the NHS there is no such luxury. Unless there is a political earthquake, however poor its performance and however much money it sucks in, we’re stuck with it.

Mr Streeting deserves credit for apparently trying to inject some modern thinking into what has become a sclerotic, over-bureaucratic organisation.

His suggested reforms (to be endorsed by Sir Keir Starmer today), such as 7-day diagnostic centres and a new appointments app, are sensible. But on the fundamentals – low productivity, staff shortages, the social care crisis, the chronic shortage of hospital beds – Labour has had little to say.

Awarding large pay rises to NHS staff without demanding any productivity improvements in return was a huge mistake, as is commissioning yet another report into the problems of social care rather than actually trying to tackle them.

The Government is splashing out an extra £22billion to fund these and other improvements. Sadly, without genuine root-and-branch reform it’s likely to prove no more than just another sticking plaster on a dangerously deteriorating wound.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting says if the NHS can¿t be modernised it will ¿go the way of Woolworths'

Health Secretary Wes Streeting says if the NHS can’t be modernised it will ‘go the way of Woolworths'

Awarding large pay rises to NHS staff without demanding any productivity improvements in return was a huge mistake

Awarding large pay rises to NHS staff without demanding any productivity improvements in return was a huge mistake

Woolworths was a private company in a highly competitive market. When it failed, it was quickly replaced by smarter, more efficient and more nimble retailers. A closed branch is pictured here in Stoke-on-Trent in December 2020

Woolworths was a private company in a highly competitive market. When it failed, it was quickly replaced by smarter, more efficient and more nimble retailers. A closed branch is pictured here in Stoke-on-Trent in December 2020

 

Pressure on Siddiq

Disquiet grows over City minister Tulip Siddiq’s links with allegedly corrupt politicians in Bangladesh.

Her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was prime minister of that country until she and her Awami League party were forced from power amid accusations of human rights abuses and financial misappropriation.

An anti-corruption commission in Bangladesh claims Ms Siddiq and other family members embezzled some £3.9 billion from a nuclear energy programme.

A Mail on Sunday investigation also revealed she was gifted a London apartment by a property developer connected to her aunt – a fact she initially denied.

Ms Siddiq rejects any suggestion of impropriety and is, of course, entitled to the presumption of innocence.

But she is not just any backbench MP. She is a senior member of the Government, part of whose role is to oversee the fight against corruption and money laundering. These allegations are a crushing blow to her credibility in that role.

Sir Keir Starmer has stood behind his minister so far, but until she has cleared her name, shouldn’t he ask her to step aside?

Land Registry records showed Ms Siddiq became the sole owner of the third-floor flat in November 2004, when she had just finished a masters degree at King's College London

Land Registry records showed Ms Siddiq became the sole owner of the third-floor flat in November 2004, when she had just finished a masters degree at King's College London

 

Mercurial Musk

By calling for Nigel Farage to be replaced as leader of Reform UK, Elon Musk plunges a metaphorical dagger into the back of his supposed friend and ally.

Mr Farage provoked Mr Musk’s ire by distancing himself from the tech billionaire’s support for English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson. Robinson is a criminal, a rabble-rouser and racist and Mr Farage is right to shun him.

Yes, mega-rich Mr Musk has some radical ideas about political reform. But, as this outburst demonstrates, he is also capricious and mercurial. Reform, or any other party, embraces him and his money at its peril.

It comes just weeks after they met at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to discuss a donation to Reform, reported to be up to $100million.

It comes just weeks after they met at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to discuss a donation to Reform, reported to be up to $100million.

Most watched News videos