Public responses to Labour’s “rallying cry to the nation” to help fix the NHS are coming in thick and fast. One sensible suggestion caught Guido’s eye…

One respondent points out: “Ministers love telling us we should eat healthily, exercise more, and lose weight. They even want the NHS to come into our offices and weigh us at work. We deserve to know if they’re practicing what they preach.” Public BMI tests for ministers…

Starmer has been clear on how much he values ideas like this. He says “it’s only right that we hear from the people who rely on the NHS every day to have their say and shape our plan as we deliver it” and that “we need your ideas to help turn the NHS around,” while Streeting urges everyone to submit their ideas to “help us build a health service fit for the future.” Ministers might as well put their money where their mouths are – then the minister with the highest BMI can be kicked out of Cabinet…

UPDATE: The recommendation, along with others, has been deleted. It must be being considered in Cabinet as we speak…

Cash-strapped NHS Wales Networks and Planning—which racked up a staggering £183 million deficit last year—seems to have found a pot of gold after all. They’re splashing out on an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Champion for the Women’s Health Network, with an annual salary that ranges from a jaw-dropping £105,504 to £139,882. Meanwhile, a Senior Biomedical Scientist, responsible for conducting vital tests to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, is only pulling in a paltry £44,000 a year….

“Taxpayers in Wales are sick of seeing their hard-earned cash wasted on pointless non-jobs.”

The lucky DEI hire will be tasked with crafting “inclusive”  leadership and services. The position offers a generous array of benefits, such as the option to work from home as desired and a 42% discount on a new bike for those who prefer cycling to the office. Nice work if you can get it…

Following Lord Darzi’s report that found the NHS is in “critical condition”, despite record funding, Starmer is laying out how Labour will “reform” the service. Heard that one before…

Watch live as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivers a speech highlighting the government’s plans to rebuild the NHS following Lord Darzi’s independent investigation into the state and performance of the health service https://t.co/cr4x0AGzSi

— PA Media (@PA) September 12, 2024

Starmer blamed the Tories for the failure of the NHS, stating they “broke” the service. Shock…

The Prime Minister then started on his “10-year plan” to reform the NHS, a matter of “life and death”. He went on to say reform does not mean it will no longer be free, or mean pumping more money into the service, stating “no more money until reform”. Or mean fixing things from Whitehall…

Instead, it includes “three big shifts”:

• Moving from an analogue to a digital NHS. That means building on the NHS app and fully digitalise patient records.
• Shift more care from hospitals to communities. Changing from a “national health service to a neighbourhood health service”.
• Be bolder in moving from sickness to prevention. Meaning more checks to catch and prevent illnesses earlier.

Notably this is not a one-term plan…

Labour’s latest brainstorming session for how to raise taxes whilst blaming the Conservatives has produced a new scapegoat: the NHS. No prizes for originality…

A major report commissioned by Health Secretary Wes Streeting is set to find NHS progress has declined for the first time in 50 years. Waiting lists, which have increased across all areas of the service, will be highlighted as a Tory failure, adding to the growing arsenal of Labour excuses to raise taxes. Streeting will be hoping no one looks to Wales’ Labour run NHS where 20.1% of people wait more than a year for treatment, compared with 5.2% in England…

Many will see the report as the latest development in Labour’s doom-mongering approach to government, clearly a ruse to prepare the country for tax rises in the imminent October budget. The phrase ‘progress has declined’ feels very Labour…

The Royal College of Physicians has declared that climate change “is one of the biggest threats to human health” and will kill a quarter of a million people every year by 2050. Which is why it has created a “green toolkit” telling doctors across the UK how they can save the climate…

Flagship recommendations for doctors to “slow the pace of climate change” include reducing prescriptions, cutting blood tests, and reducing diagnostic imaging. What’s the point, seeing as we are all about to be eviscerated in climate judgement day anyway…

Doctors are also told that they should work remotely where possible and use more “active travel” like walking and car-pooling. When they do get face to face with patients, though, they are as “uniquely trusted members of the community” told to “help their communities understand how climate change will affect their health” which includes talking “about the health benefits of climate action“. “Sorry, no blood test for you madam – have you heard about the ice caps, though?”

Norwich councillor and Labour’s candidate for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, Peter Prinsley, has made a lot of his working for the NHS in the campaign so far. An “NHS doctor” working as a surgeon at two Norfolk hospitals, his promotional material says: “I am an NHS doctor with a sense of social responsibility and fairness. My father was an NHS doctor and my son is an NHS doctor. We are an NHS Labour family.” He’s certainly made the point – one in every ten words there is “NHS”…

What hasn’t made it onto Prinsley’s campaign material is his extensive private work at a third location – Spire Norwich Hospital. Every Friday Prinsley runs a clinic for private patients with cash to spend on treatment. What would Starmer say?

Spire Healthcare made a tidy £1.4 billion in revenue last year. Interestingly Prinsley complained some years ago to The Times that private providers “pick away at those aspects of elective care likely to generate a profit” and damage the NHS. Presumably he will change position again once his payroll is covered fully by the taxpayer in the Commons…