NHS 'not fit for 21st Century', says chief hospital inspector

[Northerner]

The NHS is not fit for the 21st Century, the new chief inspector of hospitals in England has said.

Professor Ted Baker, who started the role last month, said the system had not adapted to deal with the growth in the population.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, he said: "The model of care we have got is still the model we had in the 1960s and 70s."

The Department of Health is yet to respond to his views.

Prof Baker succeeded Sir Mike Richards overseeing the hospital division of the Care Quality Commission (CQC), having been his deputy since 2014.

The former hospital medical director said the NHS had not modernised because of a historic lack of investment.

He said: "One of the things I regret is that 15 or 20 years ago, when we could see the change in the population, the NHS did not change its model of care.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41451162

 

[mikeyB]

I could almost dictate the response from the government, starting with "Since we came into power, we have increased the numbers of........".

But whatever they have done, it doesn't work. Not in England, at any rate. It's not great in Scotland, but the government cares, and genuinely wants things better.

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

The Conservative government want it to fail, they've already started the process via the Health and Social Care Act, my sisters local A&E is run by Virgin Health, public money into private hands, that's the Tories plan.

 

[mikeyB]

Virgin Health??? How much is that costing, they have to make a profit from acutely ill folk. You're right, Lucy, this is privatisation by stealth. Why was there no protest, no national clarion call to the barricades?

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

The Bill was pushed through largely unnoticed, lots of people aren't even aware of it. It was in The Conservative manifesto, however, the majority of people I know who vote Conservative have no idea what they are voting for

 

[grovesy]

Virgin Health??? How much is that costing, they have to make a profit from acutely ill folk. You're right, Lucy, this is privatisation by stealth. Why was there no protest, no national clarion call to the barricades?

Virgin Health run a lot of GP surgeries.

 

[mikeyB]

Not up here they don't, and never will.

 

[Ditto]

If they could have seen the change in population we should have followed China! We're like flipping lemmings. 7 billion. Pathetic. Can't feed half of them.

 

[Ljc]

I found out a couple of years ago that the Ambulance service here is now run by a private company. This was done very quietly . Found out the other day they are now in special measures.

 

[Mark Parrott]

A private ambulance service who took over part of the area I covered when I was volunteering have gone bust. That area has now been handed back to East of England Ambulance Service. Our local hospital was also taken over by a private company. They failed miserably so now back in NHS hands.