The power-crazed health secretary has drafted in an army general, and revealed his ignorance about the health service
A long, low groan echoes around the NHS. Not again, please? The new health secretary, Sajid Javid, pledges far-reaching reforms and the most comprehensive review since the 1980s. Too many new health secretaries start there, at the bottom of the learning curve, but Javid adds threats: “Hospital managers who fail to clear mounting NHS backlogs will be sacked under government plans for reform,” the Times was briefed, with him “preparing new powers to seize control of poorly performing hospitals”.
That means the return of perverse incentives to cut waiting lists by rushing through ingrown toenail procedures ahead of complex, urgent cases. Forget care: in fear of the axe, only numbers will matter to NHS bosses. We’ve been here before: remember the Mid Staffs hospital scandal?
Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
