The NHS needs a health secretary who will be radical about reform

Like being the water purity press officer for Thames Water or compliance manager for GB News, a Conservative health secretary is very usually on a hiding to nothing – or to turn to another, still more obvious cliche, invariably presented with a compulsory “hospital pass” with no exemption clause. To be fair to Ms Atkins, she did talk about how reforms to the NHS could raise productivity, and mentioned how former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, now handily ensconced at the Treasury, was investing billions in new technologies and his workforce plan; but she sounded stumped when it was pointed out to her that countless of her predecessors, including Mr Hunt in his time, had made similar promises, and consistently failed to deliver. Ms Atkins was also confronted with the dire state of the economy, and phantasmagorical delusions that underpin Mr Hunt’s plans for public spending. Ms Atkins is unable to justify the chancellor’s unrealistic plans, nor why the government is cutting taxes at a time when NHS waiting lists remain higher than when Mr Sunak made his ambitious “key priorities” pledge in January 2023 to reduce them. Ms Atkins would be far better advised to level with the public about the crisis in the NHS, take responsibility for the situation and explain how the government proposes to do more with less.