Author: Dr Alex Isted, ST6 Anaesthetics, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester; Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC) Fellow 2025/26
Lord Darzi’s Independent investigation of the NHS in England painted a grim picture of an NHS in ‘critical condition’. It outlined how the service is failing to deliver across a wide range of metrics against the backdrop of deteriorating health and widening inequalities in the UK.
We’ve become accustomed to the stark commentary from the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, describing the NHS as ‘broken’ and ‘going through its worst crisis in history’.
There’s no doubt that the challenges facing the NHS are stacking up. As our surgical population grows older and more multimorbid, waiting lists have sat stubbornly at more than seven million since 2022, with little prospect of an imminent return to pre-pandemic levels. Avoidable morbidity and inefficiency threaten efforts to reduce the ‘backlog’ and profoundly impact the lives of our patients. Consider that one in seven elective operations are cancelled on the day of surgery, complications occur in one in eight operations, and on average one to two days of hospital stay could have been avoided. Furthermore, around one in seven patients regret having their operation altogether.