Health
England’s NHS Broken by £37 Billion Funding Gap, Report Says
- UK spent billions less than peer nations on buildings, tech
- Keir Starmer will promise to radically reform health service
Keir Starmer, right, and Wes Streeting, center, meet staff as they visit Bassetlaw Hospital in Worksop, UK, on June 15.
Photographer: Cameron Smith/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
England’s National Health Service has been broken by a lack of funding over more than 10 years, according to a report that lays bare the challenge new Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces in rebuilding an organization ingrained in the national psyche.
Austerity, the pandemic and confusion caused by repeated top-down reorganization have left the health service on its knees, the report finds. Its author, Ara Darzi — a prominent surgeon and an independent peer in the House of Lords — laid much of the blame with politicians.