Mountain to climb

Common sense is not a phrase that could have frequently been used to describe the words and actions of recent health secretaries, but in the space of just a few days since taking office Wes Streeting appears to have found some.

In Mr Streeting’s first few days in office he visited a North London GP practice where he made clear he understands general practice is underfunded and even went on to outline his belief that care closer to people’s homes and early intervention to avoid them ending up in emergency departments is clearly desirable – and much cheaper. 

The new secretary of state for health and social care also met with junior doctors leaders as soon as possible promising more talks and a ‘reset moment’ in a long-running and dispiriting dispute.

Making a good first impression is one thing, though. Delivering on pledges and promises is another. As BMA council chair Phil Banfield says in this issue of the magazine: ‘The proof of a more healthy pudding is still in the eating, and I am under no illusion that we will need to continue to fight both nationally and locally to reverse the decline of our National Health Service and re-establish the professional voice of doctors.’

Professor Banfield had written to Mr Streeting upon his election outlining some of the significant challenges facing the NHS, including branch-of-practice disputes, medical associate professions and waiting times and staffing. Downing Street’s chief of staff Sue Gray apparently has a ‘shit list’ of the great crises facing the country but, in truth, she could have one exclusively for health and social care, such are the challenges and crises of the age.

Over the course of more than two years there have been 11 rounds of strikes by junior doctors in England – and BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi are committed to not relenting until they have secured a roadmap to pay restoration. Showing the workforce they are valued is just one of the problems in Mr Streeting’s in tray.

The dispute comes as latest figures (from April 2024) suggest the NHS waiting list in England stands at 7.57 million cases, made up of around 6.33 million individual patients. About half of these have been waiting more than 18 weeks and more than 300,000 for more than a year. Elsewhere, cancer targets are being missed, only 74 per cent of patients attending emergency departments were seen within four hours and GPs
are finding it increasingly hard to find avenues to refer patients. It is certainly time for actions and not just words.

At the time of writing Mr Streeting is joined in the Department of Health by ministers of state Stephen Kinnock and Karin Smyth as well as Parliamentary under-secretaries of state Andrew Gwynne and Baroness Merron. There is expected to be another addition to the team.