If we want to save the NHS it must be removed from the clutches of politicians

Knee-jerk politics or compassionate policymaking? David Cameron was so moved by the plight of cancer patients denied treatment by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) that he set up the Cancer Drugs Fund in 2010. At a time when the Treasury ordered the NHS to come up with “efficiency savings” of £20bn, his vanity project spent nearly £1.3bn pounds of taxpayer’s money on expensive and controversial drugs, some of which did not meet internationally recognised criteria for benefits, before being wound up in 2016.

Now, an independent team of medical experts has analysed the results and delivered a devastating verdict – describing the creation of the fund as policymaking “on the hoof … politically and intellectually lazy”. For the patients involved, whose lives were extended by up to 16 months, the effects were “transformational” and charities say it offered “precious time with loved ones” – but, given the funding crisis faced by the NHS, should Cameron have listened to his heart rather than his head? And why set up another quango alongside Nice in the first place? More duplication, just when the NHS was told to shed clerical staff.

The BBC estimates that over the same period, the money allocated to Cameron’s pet project would have funded 10,000 nurses, 2,500 hospital consultants and given all NHS workers a 2.5 per cent pay rise. George Osborne treated the NHS like an inefficient business and ordered radical changes. The NHS now can’t recruit enough front-line workers, last December there were more than 24,000 nursing vacancies. The ending of bursaries for nursing students – replaced with loans – will not help. The staffing crisis is further exacerbated by an ageing workforce and Brexit. One in three nurses are planning to retire in the next ten years, and the 20,000 nurses from the EU who work in the NHS must be concerned about their future – reflected in the catastrophic drop in applications since Brexit was triggered. In total, more than 57,000 workers from the EU are currently employed in the NHS – who is going to do those jobs if they are not offered special visas?

All of the above demonstrates the lack of joined-up thinking as politicians rush to announce that fixing this ailing warhorse is at the top of their priorities, should they win the election. Isn’t the case for removing the NHS from party politics greater than ever? If voters are sick of politicians (ask Brenda from Bristol), they are even more fed up with tinkering around the edges of healthcare. Wanting help when you are sick is a universal requirement, and the NHS should not be subjected to political whim or party dogma.

Exactly like pension provision, healthcare ought to be enshrined in a national bill of rights for all citizens. Funding for the NHS and pensions should be ring-fenced to levels determined by consensus, not the divisive policies they are subjected to at present. Surely an independent body of professionals can determine the right pay and staffing levels for the NHS and tax payers should be prepared to fund it through National Insurance contributions?

Theresa May says the NHS is “safe” in her hands – even though the Tory 1 per cent cap on pay will stay until 2020, in spite of inflation running at 3.2 per cent. That won’t help recruitment one jot – why should we expect healthcare professionals to double up as saintly figures, doing it for their mental wellbeing? Time and again, the Government feels happy rewarding businessmen and women with tax breaks (this week a clampdown on tax breaks enjoyed by wealthy non-doms was ditched from the Finance Bill) but unhappy about giving front-line workers like teachers the right level of remuneration.

Labour has promised pay rises for more than a million NHS staff including nurses and doctors if it wins the election, funded by a rise in corporation tax – but I’ll eat my trainers if they could manage to extract enough tax from the very people able to afford the financial advisers to “minimise” it. Now, cuts mean that almost half of all GP surgeries are shutting during working hours some weekdays, meaning the clients they are supposed to be serving may have to go to overburdened A&E departments. Theresa May says she wants extended opening hours for surgeries across the country – but how to pay? She’s also said she wants better support for people with mental health issues – but the medical journal Pulse has found that funding for mental health services has been cut by £4.5m in five regions. That’s the reality gap between what politicians promise and what they actually deliver – no wonder the public are cynical. If we truly want an NHS that serves us, we, the voters, must be prepared to fund it properly and insist it is removed from the clutches of government ministers.