Does Labour have any hope of fixing our broken NHS?

A special “rapid investigation” of the National Health Service was commissioned by the health secretary, Wes Streeting, shortly after he came to office in July, and it has now reported.

Headed by Ara Darzi, Baron Darzi of Denham, a highly distinguished surgeon and former Labour junior health minister, it highlights the problems faced by the NHS, and their causes.

The report will help form the basis of policy for the next few years as the government sets about fixing what Streeting calls a “broken” service. In the words of Keir Starmer, the report is “raw and honest”. It is also highly embarrassing for the Conservatives...

What does Lord Darzi say?

He is especially concerned about how failures across the system, such as in general practice and social care, have led to a “workload dump” onto the hospitals, and about the way in which the weaknesses in the NHS have led, in some cases, to poorer clinical outcomes. For example, he finds that “once adjusted for age, the cardiovascular disease mortality rate for people aged under 75 dropped significantly between 2001 and 2010. But improvements have stalled since then and the mortality rate started rising again during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Who is Lord Darzi?

The Rt Hon Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham OM KBE FRS FMedSci HonFREng is a man of immense learning, skill and experience, and is widely respected. He has produced numerous other reports, including a previous review of the NHS for the then prime minister, Gordon Brown, in 2008.