I don’t envy anyone inheriting the mess left behind in healthcare by the previous government. The size of the challenge is gargantuan. But this is a pointless review.
Not just because we already know how bad things are. And no amount of assessing, or thinking, or theorising, will unlock a magic solution to the trouble with the NHS, because the NHS was listing even before launch, and has been bailed out ever since.
It's why Darzi’s conclusions said similar in 2008. Deja-review? Go back in time with C+D. It’s depressingly familiar. I won't roll out the old cliche about the definition of insanity, but enough talking, please. Not least because the situation is even messier than the 2010 debacle left behind by Labour. Remember that? Deja-doo-doo.
Read more: Darzi 2024 report says pharmacy “one of the great strengths of the health service”
Keir Starmer looks rigid with fear. Wes Streeting usually looks rigid with fear, so no change there. But these are the top jobs. What did you think you were applying for? If the last government wasn’t useless, you wouldn’t have been elected. Don't blame your inheritance for your inertia, this is the game you are in. And taking action is the way out of your anxiety-riddled paralysis.
Make a decision on funding and act
If Labour properly funds the evolution pharmacy is on, it could deliver the change it promised by radicalising primary care in the UK.
Instead, the PM says he’s about to commence the “biggest reimagining of our NHS since its birth”. Good luck with that. See you in another 15 years. Please stop dreaming, imagining, reimagining, diagnosing and making a show of telling us what we already know.
Read more: ‘Prepared to protest’: CPE and NPA considering GP-style collective action
Make some moves. Start with a fair funding deal for community pharmacy, boost any ring-fenced revenue stream for providing Pharmacy First services. The Darzi report says pharmacy is “one of the great strengths of the health service”. There aren’t very many of those.
So please, you've had pause for thought, now light up community pharmacy by funding it properly, enabling it to flourish the way you need it to.
Or we can settle back into the familiar tussle of apparatchiks versus the realpolitik.
Intelligent well-executed strategy requires thought and planning, yes. But at some point action is required. It’s why even chess masters are governed by clocks.
