Responding to the publication of Professor Lord Darzi’s Independent Investigation of the National Health Service in England, Nuffield Trust Chief Executive Thea Stein said:
“Lord Darzi’s damning report underlines the stark realities experienced across almost every corner of the health service. Wide-ranging problems have been growing in plain sight for years and Darzi’s impressively comprehensive assessment will be familiar to anyone who has studied or experienced the slow deterioration of health care provision in England.
“While not surprising, the report’s findings are deeply troubling. As our research work has repeatedly shown, too often the NHS is not able to provide people with the timely care they need, despite steadfast public commitment to the core principles of the health service. The impacts of this are not felt equally: people in the poorest areas are particularly struggling to access healthcare.
“The big question now is what happens next.
“The Government has an early opportunity to make good on long-argued points on dysfunctional NHS funding in its first Budget next month. The health service is staring down the barrel of a significant shortfall in funding this current year [2] and the Chancellor will need to set out clear plans to tackle this, ahead of a longer-term funding settlement.
“Rightly, the report repeatedly references the interrelated, compounding pressures of the desperate state of social care and cuts to public health provision. But by design it does not dig into those issues. In future, we hope to see serious work by the government to address those broader societal issues that determine population health and impact health care access.
“Ultimately, the Lord Darzi’s diagnostic report sets out important aspirations to be delivered in the forthcoming 10-year plan to treat – and fix – the NHS. But the improvements we all hope for – and that patients desperately need – will take time, commitment and major financial, practical and system-wide support. There will be no quick fixes.”
Notes to editors
1. The Nuffield Trust is an independent health think tank. We aim to improve the quality of health care in the UK by providing evidence-based research and policy analysis and informing and generating debate.
2. Nuffield Trust analysis estimates that the NHS is experiencing cost pressures above the funding initially available in 2024/25 of £4.4 billion, due to spending growth from NHS Trusts, pay settlements, and strikes, and before applying efficiency savings.