Jeremy Hunt: NHS ‘most micro-managed healthcare system in world’
The NHS is “one of the most micro-managed healthcare systems in the world”, former chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said.
The Conservative MP for Godalming and Ash made his first contribution in the Commons since returning to the backbenches during Health Questions on Tuesday.
As Mr Hunt asserted that the problem in the NHS is “not bad management”, Health Secretary Wes Streeting referred to the Tories’ historic loss at the election, describing it as “a really great example of how you can improve things by sacking bad managers”.
Mr Hunt is the longest serving health secretary in British political history, serving from 2012-2018 in the cabinets of former Prime Ministers David Cameron and Theresa May.
Caution
Mr Streeting replied: “It is my view that when you have too many targets and you’re measuring everything, you end up measuring nothing, that we need to give more freedom and autonomy to good leaders and more clinical leaders and managers in the NHS who are coming up with some of the best productivity gains in the system.
“That’s why we’ve announced new support and investment in the college of leadership for both clinical leaders and executive leaders in the NHS.
“I’d be delighted to meet with him to discuss those issues, he was a great chair of the Select Committee.
“But I’d also just say to (Mr Hunt) that back in July, we saw a really great example of how you can improve things by sacking bad managers.”
Back bencher
Mr Hunt was re-elected as an MP in July’s general election with a slim majority of 891, and after a short stint as shadow chancellor, he followed Mr Sunak to the back benches upon Kemi Badenoch’s appointment as Tory leader.
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Given Hunt’s record as health minister I believe it is safer to ignore anything he has to say on the NHS. Under his watch the NHS has been almost destroyed. Under his watch the funding for the NHS per capita is much much lower than anywhere else in the developed world. Little wonder its creaking. In fact Hunt has written in favour of the US style dysfunctional but very expensive health system. The cost per capita for healthcare in the US is more than three times the cost of the NHS while the US system doesn’t provide care for many… Read more »
From my partners experience, he is wrong. It’s bad management and too many pushed sideways who should be backed. Targets are needed, standards too. But he failed hard as the English health sec.
His time in charge of the N H S wrecked it along with him being chancelor he was a nightmare