YP Comment: Ministers must change tack on NHS- Dysfunctional system needs help

Asked in interviews to outline their regrets, Stephen Dorrell, who held the role from 1995-97, says he wishes he’d done more to improve community care, in order to ease the pressure on hospitals, while his successor Frank Dobson admonishes himself for not ensuring there were sufficient beds to meet the needs of an ageing society.

Fast forward 20 years and it is clear that both men regret not standing up to their colleagues and officials who advised otherwise – they, like all other public servants and patients who care dearly about the NHS, are clearly alarmed by the current state of affairs as hospitals fail to meet a range of key performance targets, notably on A&E waiting times and cancer treatment, because the whole system is so dysfunctional and exacerbated by a serial shortage of GPs that is only serving to make matters worse.

What is even more perturbing, however, is the extent to which patients – the most important people of all – are being kept in the dark by the secrecy surrounding Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) that are being put in place to plug a £22bn black hole in the NHS’s finances and achieve, in this region alone, £2bn of efficiencies.

Even though the Government is committed to devolving power to the regions, this appears, judging by Theresa May’s weekly obfuscation at Prime Minister’s Questions, to be the ultimate in buck-passing because Ministers are expecting local health leaders to make unpalatable cuts while denying a voice to patients who have legitimate concerns about the downgrading of A&E cover, notably in Huddersfield and Dewsbury, as well as other vital services.

This prevailing culture of secrecy, one which needs reversing, only serves to undermine trust in this most cherished of institutions at a time when the goodwill of health professionals is being stretched to the limit.

This mindset must change. Yet, while it is clear that the NHS has been too slow in the past to respond to the country’s changing demographics and increased expectations of patients, those tasked with making difficult decisions should be doing so from the perspective of Yorkshire’s health requirements in five, 10 and 20 years hence rather than endangering 
the lives of the seriously ill with short-sighted strategies that put fail to 
put patients first.

MPs warning over Grammar schools ‘distraction’

One of Theresa May’s central tenets since becoming Prime Minister has been to improve the education system. Ensuring that pupils are properly equipped with the skills they need to be successful in the workplace is not only laudable, it is crucial for this country’s long term prosperity. But instead of focusing on tackling the chronic shortage of innovative and inspirational teachers, politicians have become bogged down in a polarising debate around the creation of a new wave of grammar schools.

A report by the education select committee says the Government must show how grammar schools can help close the attainment gap between rich and poor children, while its chairman, Tory MP Neil Carmichael, has called plans to extend selective school education an “unnecessary distraction”. He is right to do so, for there has been too much tinkering in the past.

All pupils, irrespective of how wealthy their parents are, or what their background is, deserve the chance to shine. Only then will we have an education system that truly is for everyone.

Root - no ordinary Joe

As sporting coronations go the appointment of Joe Root as England’s new Test cricket captain was as popular as it was predictable. After all he was vice-captain and the obvious successor to Alastair Cook.

It’s a job the Yorkshireman has long been tipped to get. He was first touted as a future England captain as a 13-year-old playing cricket for Sheffield Collegiate. Since then he’s established himself as the standout English cricketer of his generation, and what the 26-year-old lacks in experience he more than compensates for with his calm self-assurance on the field of play.

There will be challenges ahead and, as his predecessor will no doubt attest, being England cricket captain can be a lonely job at times. But in Joe Root England don’t just have a safe pair of hands, they have a man with the talent and temperament to become one of English cricket’s greatest ever captains. We wish him every success.