Reviving the NHS—lessons from Labour 1997-2005

We have a great deal to learn from the period 1997 to 2005 when, as the King’s Fund has reported, the English NHS began the greatest improvement in its history.1 I was directly involved as a regional director, and from 2000 as NHS chief executive and permanent secretary of the Department of Health. This short article doesn’t cover everything and is inevitably subjective. Others will have different perspectives and I hope that this article will provoke debate, discussion, and, most importantly, learning for the future.At the end of the 90s the NHS was in a bad state, with long waiting lists, staff shortages, and public concern about nosocomial infection and hospital cleanliness. Outcomes were poor compared with similar countries, and many emergency departments were in chaos. UK expenditure on health was around 25% below that of comparator countries. There were some obvious similarities with today’s situation, although the current position…
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