Bernard Ingham: Reforming the NHS is like parting a banker from a bonus, but it’s time that it was done

I’m surprised you did not hear me bawling 250 miles away in Surrey when I was confronted with Liberal Democrat peers and Lord Crisp, who ran the NHS for six years, nibbling away at the Health Bill. Which explains this article. It is a scream, not just a plea, for common sense over NHS reform.

Let me be clear, I do not think it was No 10’s brightest idea to hold a summit on the NHS at this late stage, still less to exclude opponents of reform.

It merely provided a focus of histrionic discontent so magnificently displayed by that screaming – yes, it’s catching – harridan who accosted Health Secretary Andrew Lansley on his way there. The Health Bill has become a rallying force for every Neadearthal tendency in the land. I am sure it is not the best thing since sliced bread in the legislative boulangerie. And I am even more certain its works remain a mystery to most voters. In other words, Lansley is no salesman.

But if the coalition did not know 22 months ago that trying to reform anything in this conservative realm is as painful as parting a banker from his bonus – or a benefit junkie from his hand-out – they should not have embarked on it. It is exactly the same story trying to bring some sense to the welfare and criminal justice systems.

So let’s go back to basics.

We have long known what is wrong with the NHS, apart from being unwieldly and monopolistic, sheltered from competition.

When Margaret Thatcher went to No 10 in 1979, it was obvious there would never be enough money to cope with the repair and maintenance bills of an ageing population while medical science increased exponentially the drugs and techniques available.

Now hospitals are having to write off millions owed for treatment by unscrupulous foreigners and health tourists, face the pressure of largely uncontrolled immigration and, according to the Prime Minister, find £2.7bn a year to treat boozy Britons as well as now pick up some of the tab for mostly unnecessary but risky breast implants. Still the nation has got healthier, we live longer and the NHS performs heroically in emergencies. So why change it?

Well, on top of money, an ageing population and medical advances, the NHS leaves much to be desired in its day-to-day operations. It increasingly exhibits the inevitable failings of a highly protected sacred cow. I have kept a record of those reported during the first two months of this year. Here’s just five:

A study of 14 million admissions to hospitals over weekends found patients are more likely to die within 30 days compared with those admitted on Wednesdays because of the absence of senior doctors and lack of immediately available facilities.

A doctor in charge of out-of-hours care for 1m in South London ran the service from his home in Norfolk and often took three hours to return calls.

NHS Future Forum says nurses lack ability, compassion or even a simple desire to work in the profession.

The Office of National Statistics says an average of 25 patients a week are dying from hunger or thirst in hospitals.

The chief executive of the NHS Care Quality Commission resigns after a report of repeated failures in supervision of care homes and hospitals.

All this is on top of my personal GP experience. You can spend half your time on the phone trying to book an appointment. And for God’s sake, don’t fall ill at night or weekends. This is a grossly overpaid part-time NHS.

I could go on and on. Instead, I will draw the obvious conclusion: the NHS is not what it has been cracked up to be. If not, why would millions give their eye-teeth to afford private medical insurance?

Until the proliferation of royal colleges of medicine, the BMA and all the other complacent vested public sector interests acknowledge all this and come up with practical solutions, they should shut up. If Lansley has got his Bill only half right, he will do some good. I have reached the stage when I am screaming for him to succeed. He needs to – and in this nastily hypocritical world he deserves to do so.