Failures in NHS care and 'decline' for the first time in 50 years to be highlighted in damning new report

-Credit: (Image: WalesOnline/ Rob Browne)
-Credit: (Image: WalesOnline/ Rob Browne)


Failures in basic care and a 'decline' of the NHS is to be highlighted in a damning new report published later this week. In some areas progress is regressing for the first time in 50 years, the document will claim.

Surgeon and former health minister Lord Ara Darzi was previously commissioned by Health Secretary Wes Streeting to conduct an independent investigation of the NHS. It is expected to highlight how improvements made in key areas have 'stalled', and in others are going backwards.

The scope of the report, published on Thursday, is expected to highlight the full extent of challenges facing the NHS, focusing on assessing patient access to healthcare, the quality of healthcare being provided and the overall performance of the health system.

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It comes after the Health Secretary declared the NHS as 'broken' and said Labour's mission was to 'turn our health service around' within a few hours of the General Election.

Mr Streeting said he wanted a ‘raw and honest’ assessment that will deliver ‘the hard truths’ about the health service.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting
Health Secretary Wes Streeting -Credit:PA

The Telegraph has now reported that Lord Darzi's report into the 'decline' of the NHS will also examine the length of time children have been forced to wait in A&E departments and how routine services were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Surgeon and peer Lord Darzi is also to say improvements made in heart disease mortality rates have 'stalled', and even regressed since 2010 in the upcoming review.

In the report, Lord Darzi will say: “Once adjusted for age, the cardiovascular disease mortality rate for people aged under 75 dropped significantly between 2001 and 2010. But improvements have stalled since then and the mortality rate started rising again during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The British Heart Foundation said in its submission to the review: “We are extremely concerned that the significant progress made on heart disease and circulatory diseases (CVD) in the last 50 years is beginning to reverse.

“The number of people dying before the age of 75 in England from CVD has risen to the highest level in 14 years.”

A Department for Health & Social Care spokesperson said there were 'wide variations' in the standard of care delivered to patients with cardiovascular problems.

Heart attack patients in some towns and cities wait up to three-and-a-half hours longer for the same procedure than other patients living in the same region, the investigation for the report found.

The report, by former health minister Lord Ara Darzi, is expected to highlight the full extent of challenges facing the health service
The report, by former health minister Lord Ara Darzi, is expected to highlight the full extent of challenges facing the health service -Credit:WalesOnline/ Rob Browne

The time taken for a rapid intervention to unblock an artery has risen by more than half an hour – from an average of 114 minutes in 2013-14 to 146 minutes in 2022-23, the spokesperson said.

They added: “It’s alarming that the progress made on heart disease and stroke is now in decline. It points to a failure to help people stay healthy, and a failure of the NHS to be there for us when we need it.

“This government is acting to cut waiting times and reform the NHS, so it catches illness earlier, which is better for patients and less expensive for our health service.”

Criticism of the review from the Conservatives is expected due to Lord Darzi analysing a period of their previous government when he had opposing political ties. Lord Darzi, a former health minister under Gordon Brown, sat as a Labour peer before resigning from the party in 2019.

The Conservative shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins accused Labour of using Lord Darzi’s health review as 'cover' to raise taxes in the upcoming Budget.

Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Ms Atkins said: “This report, I fear, is cover for the Labour Party to raise our taxes in the budget in October, and they are laying the groundwork for this.

“They weren’t straight with us about winter fuel payments, they’re not being straight with us about taxes, and we need to have a grown-up conversation about the NHS, but this is not the way to go about it.”