For too long, reform has been a ministerial code word for ‘dismantling’. Labour’s approach will be refreshingly different
“Call this a cure for NHS, Sir Keir?” splashes the Daily Mail, its opening paragraph claiming: “Doctors and experts last night rounded on Keir Starmer’s plans for NHS reform.” It’s no surprise the Mail wants to divert attention away from the cataclysmic collapse of the NHS, which Rishi Sunak still refuses to call a “crisis”.
The very word “reform” risks sending shudders through the NHS. How much more can it take after countless disruptive upheavals throughout its history, including two major ones since 2010? How many more here-today-gone-tomorrow politicians will seize the levers to shake up the working environment of the professionals keeping the NHS alive?
Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
