Sajid Javid said the health service already had the resources it needed and did not demand more for effective patient care. “The NHS has now locked in the resources it needs. You do not need any more money. What it has to offer more people is not money. “Reform is needed,” he said. In an interview with the Times, he compared the NHS to the most inactive video rental chain Blockbuster, arguing that it needed to be dramatically restructured to continue to provide free point-of-use healthcare. “You want to have a system that, yes, has the prices of 1948, but looking at delivery by 2048,” he said. Javid made the same comparison at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, saying the country had a “blockbuster healthcare system in the Netflix era”, although he later defended his comments, saying he did not mean a service should be done. subscription-based. Javid also called for the chancellor’s plans to reduce income tax by 1 point in 2024 to be carried over to next year. “I want to see a small state focus on delivering the things that really matter, and I want to see taxes as low as possible,” he said. The cut will do little to help those suffering the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis, with 80% of the benefit going to half of higher incomes. The health minister’s remarks on health service funding follow a condemnatory report that showed the NHS had lost nearly 25,000 beds across the UK over the past decade. The Royal College of Emergency Physicians said the drop led to a sharp increase in waiting time for R&D, ambulances and surgeries and caused “real harm to patients” and a “serious patient safety crisis”. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST Speaking the same week that a video clip showed a nurse telling patients they had to wait 13 hours in an overcrowded A&E department, Javid acknowledged that NHS waiting lists would continue to grow. “I was very honest, the waiting lists will continue to grow before they fall,” he told the Times. “People value honesty. “They want ministers to be honest and treat them like adults.” He said people understand that there are still significant challenges in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. He insisted that health care reform was a necessity. “It is absolutely possible to lead change and reform in the NHS and it should, it is not an option,” he said, adding that this year’s budget exceeded Greece’s GDP. “We estimate that by the end of this parliament it will represent more than 40% of the daily government expenditure.” Javid stopped asking for cuts to the NHS budget and said he did not want to see a “cut in major health services”. “What you can definitely do is reduce the cost of NHS spending and offer more at the same time,” he said.
