The NHS needs reform instead of more money, the health secretary said, though he admits record waiting lists will continue to rise before they fall.
Sajid Javid said the health service already had the resources it needed and no longer needed to care for patients effectively. “The NHS has now blocked the resources it needs. It doesn’t need more money. What it has to give to more people is not money. It needs reform,” he said.
In an interview with the Times, he compared the NHS to the defunct Blockbuster video rental chain, arguing that it should be drastically restructured to continue to provide free point-of-use healthcare.
“You want to have a system that, yes, has the values of 1948, but looking at delivery by 2048,” he said.
Javid made the same comparison at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, saying the country had a “highly successful health system in the Netflix era,” though he later defended his comments, saying he didn’t mean should become a subscription-based service.
Javid also called for the chancellor’s plans for a 1p reduction in income tax in 2024 to be brought forward to next year. “I want to see a small state that focuses on delivering the things that really matter, and I want taxes to be as low as possible,” he said. The cut would not help much for those who bear the brunt of the cost of living crisis, as 80% of the profits would go to the top half of the workers.
The Health Secretary’s remarks on health service funding follow a damned report that showed the NHS had lost almost 25,000 beds across the UK over the past decade. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said the crash had caused a sharp increase in waiting times for A&E, ambulances and operations, and was causing “real patient damage” and a “serious patient safety crisis”.
Sign up for First Edition, our free daily newsletter, every weekday morning at 7:00 BST
Speaking the same week that a viral video clip showed a nurse telling patients they were facing a 13-hour wait in a crowded A&E department, Javid admitted that NHS waiting lists would continue to rise.
“I’ve been very honest, waiting lists will continue to grow before they fall,” he told the Times. “People appreciate honesty. They want ministers to be honest and treat them like adults.” He said people understood that important challenges remained in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
He insisted that health service reform was a necessity. “It is absolutely possible to push for change and reform in the NHS and we have to do it, it is not an option,” he said, adding that his budget for this year exceeded Greece’s GDP. “We estimate that by the end of this parliament it will account for more than 40% of the government’s daily spending.”
Javid did not call for cuts to the NHS budget and said he did not want to see “major cuts in health services”. “What you can do is reduce the growth of NHS spending and offer more at the same time,” he said.