Dr Tania Mathias is an NHS doctor. She served as Conservative MP for Twickenham from 2015 to 2017, and was the parliamentary candidate for Maidenhead 2024.
Lord Darzi’s report Independent Investigation of the National Health Service in England is a sobering and comprehensive summary of the current situation of the NHS and – although outside its remit – to some extent social care.
Lord Darzi reportedly did not set out to make party political points in the report. Indeed, many health professionals are saddened by the NHS always being used as a political football.
This report is an opportunity, perhaps for the first time in the history of the NHS, for all MPs to come together to improve care for all constituents.
Many current MPs and candidates at the last election would have had hustings where people asked about access to their GPs, access to local emergency acute care, and problems with social care.
I expect that most Conservative MPs and candidates were stating similar points as all the other candidates: acknowledging the pressing need to improve GP appointments, A&E waiting times, and social care. Thus, we should all welcome Lord Darzi’s report and work with the Government.
This is the time that the NHS could be taken out of the political point-scoring arena.
For example, at the birth of the NHS in 1948, Aneurin Bevan did not want family doctors to be independent of the NHS with different contracts. He lost that battle with the medical profession. Today Wes Streeting is talking about changing the GP contracts and Conservative MPs and the Health Select Committee can help bring in this new phase of the NHS.
Lord Darzi writes of the need for capital investment and Conservatives, again, can help to prevent the poor PFI record of previous administrations. Frank Dobson called his overseeing of PFI in the NHS as one of his greatest regrets. So today other financial models or better PFI contracts need to be found.
The report has points that will have immediate cross-party support: the need for upgrading digital infrastructure, the need to exploit the research potential that comes with NHS data, and the need to shift focus to more medical services closer to home.
Conservatives can get behind such improvements and changes as there is already common ground. For example, the Conservative manifesto proposed community diagnostic centres. With renewed focus on the NHS, the constituency MP’s role will be important in championing best practices or bringing in expertise if the local services are not matching the standards of other areas.
Victoria Atkins, as Opposition Health Minister, rightly talks of her plans that would have linked productivity with pay rises. These proposals can be incorporated into the NHS and social care changes to come. Thus, at present, our role in Opposition can be constructive in the health and social care portfolio.
There is still important work to be done by our Opposition health team in challenging the Government.
It was a Labour MP many years ago who spoke in the Commons about a shocking lack of care in her local hospital. Ann Clwyd’s experience was horrific. The more recent All Party Parliamentary Group’s Birth Trauma report is cited by Lord Darzi. Local constituency MPs can ensure that if a “bedpan is dropped” it will be heard by the Secretary of State and Lord Darzi’s recommendation involving re-empowering patients can and should be championed by all MPs.
While preventative services can, and need to be, improved the report acknowledges the inevitability of rising costs of healthcare with an ageing population.
Medical advances, earlier interventions in medical conditions, and personalised medicine mean that every government will need above-inflation investment in the hospital sector.
The cost of NHS and social care will always be a challenge for every government.
If the current model is to change then the Conservative Party must be alongside whoever is in government to ensure the longevity of the NHS. We hope to be back in government soon and we will also need a constructive non-political point scoring Opposition when protecting the NHS and care services.
Today we must set the example of how to be the best constructive Health and Social Care Opposition for the sake of the future of the NHS and social care.
