Wes Streeting has ordered an independent investigation into the performance of the NHS as figures showed the waiting list for treatment in England had risen for a second month in a row.
The health secretary said he wanted the review to reveal the “hard truths” about a service that he described as having been “wrecked”.
NHS data on Thursday revealed that the overall waiting list for planned treatments, such as knee and hip replacements, was getting worse.
An estimated 7.6m treatments were on the waiting list at the end of May, which related to 6.38 million patients – up slightly from 7.57m treatments and 6.33 million patients at the end of April.
The list hit a record high in September 2023 with 7.77m treatments and 6.50 million patients, after which the figures began to fall, before showing an increase in April and May this year.
Announcing the investigation into the NHS on Thursday, Streeting said it would aim at “diagnosing the problem” so the government could “write the prescription”. The investigation will be led by the former health minister and world-renowned surgeon Lord Darzi.
Streeting said: “It’s clear to anyone who works in or uses the NHS that it is broken. Unlike the last government we are not looking for excuses. I am certainly not going to blame NHS staff, who bust a gut for their patients. This government is going to be honest about the challenges facing us, and serious about solving them.
“Honesty is the best policy, and this report will provide patients, staff and myself with a full and frank assessment of the state of the NHS, warts and all. The NHS has been wrecked. This investigation will be the survey, before we draw up plans to rebuild it anew, so it can be there for all of us when we need it, once again.”
The latest waiting-time data – the first since the new government took office – highlighted the scale of the challenge facing Streeting.
The performance data from NHS England showed the proportion of patients, in May, waiting no longer than 62 days from the time of getting an urgent suspected cancer referral or consultant upgrade to a first definitive treatment for cancer was 65.8%. The target is 85%.
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Sarah Woolnough, the chief executive of the King’s Fund thinktank, said: “On his first day in office, the new secretary of state for health and social care said the NHS is broken. These statistics make that statement hard to disagree with. Funding might be tight, but in many ways the space has now been created to drive much-needed reform of the NHS.”
She added: “NHS performance is currently well below the levels patients rightly expect and which are set out as rights and pledges in the NHS constitution. Today’s figures show 75% of people waited under four hours in A&E, when the target is 95%; only 59% of patients waited under 18 weeks for planned hospital treatment when the target is 92%; and the average ambulance response time to conditions like strokes and heart attacks was over 34 minutes when the standard is 18 minutes. The figures show the next five months, let alone the next five years, will be far from plain sailing.”
Tim Gardner, the assistant director of policy at the Health Foundation, said: “The election of a new Labour government is a significant moment for the health service, which is arguably experiencing the worst crisis in its 76-year history. While there are no quick fixes, with the right blend of policy change, innovation and investment, the new government can put the NHS back on its feet.”
