Streeting wages a war on overspending in the NHS

‘Back to basics’ plan targets waiting times and GP access

- RACHEL CLUN MILLIE COOKE

"The culture of routine overspending without consequences is over", Wes Streeting has warned, as he unveiled a trimmeddown mandate for the NHS yesterday. The health secretary said he would bring the health service “back to basics”, adding that it “must learn to live within its means”.

NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard warned “difficult decisions will be needed” to deliver the new mandate as the NHS works to find £325m in savings and shrink the organisation by 15 per cent. A move that will mean ditching staff and some programmes to focus on frontline healthcare over the next 12 months.

Mr Streeting’s new targets include cutting waiting times, improving access to GPs and dentists, and boosting urgent and emergency care. In a foreword to the 2025 mandate, Mr Streeting said the approach will put “the NHS on the road to recovery”.

“The last Labour government delivered the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction on record. It won’t be easy, but together we’ll do it again”, he said. “We recognise that this will mean tough decisions need to be made and local systems should feel empowered to make them”, Mr Streeting warned. “The culture of routine overspending without consequences is over.”