Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has said the NHS saved his life after he was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2021, but that the service is in crisis and cannot be rescued by government alone. Writing in an opinion piece, he described his treatment as a “Rolls-Royce machine” while also highlighting significant failings in patient care, including long waits for follow-up scans and a lack of communication over test results.
Mr Streeting said that after his discharge from hospital he was left without proper support, and had to wait months beyond the recommended time for scans to check the cancer had not returned. He recounted attending hospital for results only to be told they had not been processed, adding that such inefficiencies could cost patients on zero-hours contracts two days’ wages.
Citing Lord Ara Darzi’s investigation, which found the NHS was “broken”, Mr Streeting said the service was suffering the worst crisis in its history due to 14 years of underinvestment, top-down reorganisation and a failure to modernise. He said the government would now write a 10-year plan to transform the NHS into a “neighbourhood health service” using cutting-edge technology to help people stay healthy and avoid hospital.
To inform the plan, Mr Streeting announced the launch of the biggest national conversation about the NHS since its birth, including citizens’ assemblies and a major staff engagement exercise. He highlighted a programme from Singapore General Hospital called “Get Rid of Stupid Stuff”, which he said improved morale and patient care by giving staff agency. He urged NHS staff to share their ideas and told them: “Stay and help us change it.”
The Health Secretary also outlined technological ambitions, including patient passports with full medical histories, predicting disease risk from birth, and using data to drive advances in medicine. He acknowledged concerns about data protection and anonymity, but said the NHS, with its model created by Nye Bevan in 1948, was best placed globally to benefit from scientific and technological progress.
