Health secretary Wes Streeting has announced that an independent investigation will be taking place into the performance of the NHS.
Led by Lord Ara Darzi, an NHS expert, the report will ‘tell the hard truths’ about the current state of the health service.
Using the findings of the investigation, the government will draw up the required plans to rebuild the NHS.
Streeting also acknowledged that fixing the health service will take time and needs ‘fundamental reform’.
Writing in The Sun, Streeting said: ‘Unlike the last government, we are not looking for excuses. I am certainly not going to blame NHS staff, who bust a gut for their patients.
‘This government is going to be honest about the challenges facing us, and serious about solving them. We can turn the NHS around.
‘But before we write the prescription, we need to diagnose the problem.’
NHS dental contract reform
This comes after the Labour Party won the 2024 general election by a landslide last week.
Streeting was appointed as health secretary following the win, having served as shadow health and care secretary since November 2021.
Since Labour’s win, he has also met with the British Dental Association (BDA) to begin negotiations on the NHS dental contract. They also discussed Labour’s manifesto pledge to create an additional 700,000 emergency dental appointments each year.
The BDA said this initial discussion has ‘opened the door to reform of the discredited contract NHS dentists in England work to’.
Streeting also met with the junior doctors committee this week to discuss rebuilding relations between the government and junior doctors.
Following the meeting, he said: ‘This government has inherited the worst set of economic circumstances since the second world war. But both sides have shown willingness to negotiate and we are determined to do the hard work required to find a way through.
‘I am angry about the way the junior doctors are treated in the NHS, and there is a lot we can do to change that.
‘Junior doctors are the future of the health service and I want to work with them to turn around our NHS.’
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