Health Secretary Wes Streeting Streeting today urges the public to chat about the future of the NHS over Christmas dinner – as he invites Brits to have their say on what they want to see improved
The Health Secretary has vowed to save the NHS after it “saved my life when I was diagnosed with kidney cancer”.
Wes Streeting spent time in A&Es over the weekend to see how the NHS is coping as a tidal wave of flu hits. The Cabinet minister, who was diagnosed and later declared cancer free in 2021, said it left him with a “combination of pride and shame”.
He praised the heroic staff working hard but at the same time said seeing elderly people waiting for sometimes 30 hours on a trolley in a corridor “made my heart sink”. Mr Streeting described the NHS as “broken but not beaten”, adding: “I want the NHS to be there for all of us when we need it, which means it has to change.”
He made the comments as he published some of the most common ideas put forward by NHS staff and the public on how to fix the health service. They include making digital records available via the NHS app and creating better appointment systems to reduce no-shows. Mr Streeting today urges more Brits to come forward with ideas, as he tells the public to “debate about the NHS over your Christmas roast”.
Meanwhile Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, has accused the government of not making emergency care a “political priority”. He warned that long waiting times in A&E could cause more than 14,000 deaths this year.
More than one in 10 waited longer than 12 hours for treatment in A&E in November(2024) – waits that Dr Boyle said were a “matter of life and death”. In 2015 a 12-hour stay in A&E was almost a sacking offence for a hospital boss but “now we’ve normalised a very abnormal situation”, he told the Sunday Times.
NHS hospitals are currently overflowing amid a winter “quad-demic” of flu, Covid-19, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). One in 20 hospital beds were last week being taken up or closed by a festive bug, including 2,629 patients with flu. Some 125 people were in critical care beds – up a massive 90% on the week before when there were 66.
NHS national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, warned the public to “think twice about seeing loved ones if they are seriously unwell”. Eligible Brits such as kids and the elderly are urged to get their flu jabs. The NHS has set up vaccination centres in accessible locations such as supermarket car parks and football clubs.
More than 10,000 suggestions have already been submitted on the Change NHS online platform as the government seeks the public’s opinion on the health service’s future.
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Mr Streeting said: “We want to hear what’s on your wish list – have a debate about the NHS over your Christmas roast and tell us your ideas. Together, we can help make the NHS fit for the future – this is the moment to have your say as part of our Plan for Change.”
Celebrities have also rallied around the NHS in a bid to urge the public to get involved in the national conversation. Journalist and TV presenter Angela Rippon said: “I think of the NHS as a safety net and comfort blanket. Admittedly it doesn’t always get it right. But it is there when you really need it. And we can all do our bit to help the NHS by taking responsibility for our own heath through good diet, exercise and lifestyle.”
Author and comedian Adam Kay said: “For me, the NHS is our insurance policy. It’s always there. It’s always in the background. Every single day of the year. Which includes Christmas day, when half a million NHS staff will be working a shift. And I think, while we are eating our massive Christmas dinners, we should remember the people who are keeping the rest of us on the road.”
Disability inclusion specialist Shani Dhanda said: “I spent a lot of my childhood in hospital and live with a rare genetic condition, and the NHS has given me the best quality of life that I can have. I’ll be forever indebted.
