Cash, not reform, is the way to cure the ills of our NHS AMBULANCE

Every secretary of state for health and social care shares the same irresistible urge to reorganise the NHS. The current incumbent, Steve Barclay, has recently announced that he too will have a go.

- IAN HAMILTON

The respected health economist Alan Maynard referred to these efforts as the "redisorganisation" of the NHS. One of his many criticisms was that none of these reorganisations were evaluated, so how could anyone judge whether they made things better or worse?

Barely a day goes by without another tragic story of a premature death attributed to a delay in an ambulance arriving or of an extended waiting time in A&E. These anecdotes are supported by the data, which reveals record waits for ambulances and days (rather than hours) spent in emergency departments waiting for treatment.

Added to this is the current dispute about pay, with more strikes planned over the coming weeks. Understandable as they are, the strikes will add to the substandard service that too many people have experienced when they need care.

Barclay has suggested that the government would consider a pay rise for nurses; but only if they work harder by being more efficient and embracing reform, suggesting that they are luddites unwilling to adopt new ways of working. Nothing could be further from the truth.

This must be one of the most demoralising messages ever delivered by a health secretary to staff who not only gave their all during the Covid pandemic, but have continued to do so despite record numbers of job vacancies and at a time of increasing demand for NHS services.