BREAKING NEWS: Healthcare reacts to Wes Streeting resignation
Healthcare leaders have given a mixed verdict on Wes Streeting’s tenure as health and social care secretary following his resignation.
Wes Streeting (c) Alamy
The comments came after Streeting triggered the race to oust Prime Minister Keir Starmer by stepping down.
In his resignation letter, Streeting claimed he ‘had delivered’ on the ambitious targets set by the Prime Minister after news today the NHS had met its interim 18-week waiting list target.
Streeting said he had left the NHS better than he had found it with ambulance response and A&E waiting times improving, thousands more GP and mental health staff recruited, and productivity and public satisfaction also up.
The health and social care secretary said he had lost confidence in the PM, however, following the disastrous local election results.
He said there was a ‘vacuum’ where a ‘vision’ was needed in Government, adding it was clear that Starmer ‘will not lead the Labour Party into the next General Election’.
Health leaders react
Nuffield Trust chief executive Thea Stein said Streeting had made ‘slow progress’ on public satisfaction and GP appointments, along with ‘positive moves’ on reducing GP unemployment and inequalities to GP access.
However, Stein said Streeting had failed to recognise the ‘trade-offs needed during a time of scarce resources’ by setting targets to both shift care out of hospitals as well as cut waiting times.
Stein also highlighted the US trade deal that will see the UK pay billions more for the same medicines, while adding social care had once again been ‘kicked into the long grass’.
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King’s Fund, said Streeting had adopted a ‘move fast and break things’ approach during his 700 days as health secretary.
Having declared the NHS ‘broken’ she said Streeting had failed to stick around long enough to fix it but had made progress on the elective care waiting list, the 10-Year Health Plan and Tobacco and Vapes Act.
She added it remained to be seen whether NHS restructuring will be ‘worth the pain’.
Woolnough warned the incoming secretary of state will have get up to speed quickly with the NHS Modernisation Bill legislation announced in The King’s Speech.
Chief executive of The NHS Alliance, Sir Ciarán Devane, said Streeting had ‘brought a strong focus to addressing NHS waiting times and improving access to care, while setting out an ambitious reform agenda in the 10-Year Health Plan’, adding there was ‘lots more to do’.
‘The most important thing the NHS needs now is stability and we look forward to working with Wes Streeting’s successor when they are in post to help build on the progress made,’ he said.
