English: Ex-London Transport Routemaster RML2635 (NML635), now something to do with the Daily Telegraph. Español: Autobús Routemaster (RM 2635) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: NHS logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This Telegraph exclusive by Sarah Donelly, Health Editor, is not really suprising. The article reports that the NHS is expected to declare the largest deficit in its history, amid warnings that hospitals could run out of cash to pay staff within a year

Source: NHS on course for worst financial crisis in its history – Telegraph

The mainstream media in the UK continue to publish the same old stories. The right-wing press, like the Telegraph, cite the inefficiency of the NHS. Whereas, the left-wing press just demand more money. Under the previous Labour government NHS spending increased, providing higher salaries across the board but without flexibility or efficiency strings-attached. Now we read that junior doctors are ready to strike against reforms.

On a short-trip to London, I heard radio-staton, LBC, promoting the case that doctors as beyond challenge. This is politically charged nonsense.

Once upon a time, the NHS was the gold-standard of public healthcare systems – these days, the NHS is a deeply political organization, with powerful unions and archaic working practices. Measured against objective international measures of healthcare standards, the UK’s public healthcare system has been deteriorating alarmingly for years.

But politicians and the mainstream media are simply afraid to tell voters the truth. The reality is that the NHS is beyond reform. Despite the rhetoric of the hard-left, the UK cannot afford to keep throwing more and more money to prop up the NHS. The NHS has a variety of cancers eating away at its vital organs.

For four years, John Gelmini and I have been arguing for truly radical change. The NHS must be progressively scrapped and replaced by a best practice public healthcare system, modelled on the best in the world. As a former expert in delivering strategic change, in my judgement, this would probably be the world’s largest ever transformation project. The maths are clear – look at the projected incremental cashflows, demographics and risks – radical reform is better than throwing increasing tax-payer money at propping up an anachronism.

Surely, it’s time for global think-tanks and the international media to start looking critically at the UK’s NHS? Perhaps, the UK’s next public healthcare system will again become the world’s gold-standard?

Thoughts?