We mustn't ‘kill NHS with kindness', warns Streeting

Wes Streeting has warned against “killing the NHS with kindness”, as he vowed not to back down in his mission to reform the health service.

- MILLIE COOKE

Giving a speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, the health secretary said the NHS is “broken but not beaten”, accusing the previous Conservative administration of having betrayed the service by leaving it “totally unprepared for tomorrow”. Mr Streeting told delegates on the final day of the conference that the government won’t put “protecting the reputation of the NHS above protecting patients”.

This came after Ara Darzi’s independent investigation into the state of the NHS, published in September, concluded that the service is in a “critical condition” amid surging waiting lists and a deterioration in the nation’s underlying health.