Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

NHS won't survive unless we start making fundamental reform: Sajid Javid

Former health secretary suggested the UK should emulate Germany and France which run hybrid health systems.

NHS won't survive unless we start making fundamental reform: Sajid Javid

Former health secretary Sajid Javid has called for an “honest debate” on funding the NHS to make the health organisation sustainable for the future.

He did not specify how it should be funded but suggested the UK should emulate Germany and France which run hybrid health systems.

In Germany, employees pay seven per cent of their pre-tax salaries for their health insurance scheme with their employers making matching contributions. The treatment of the poorest is funded by the government.

The French health system runs on mandatory contributions from employees and employers and the self-employed. While the central government also funds the system, users have to pay a small part of the cost of their medical treatment.

Javid, who served as the health secretary for more than a year till he resigned from the Boris Johnson government in July, said the publicly funded NHS cannot survive for long without fundamental reforms.

Referring to debates in Scotland on charging the rich for some of the care they receive, he told Sky News, “I actually welcome having that kind of discussion because we need to have this honest debate as a country.”

“I don’t think the NHS will survive many more years… unless we start making fundamental reform,” Javid, who recently announced he would not contest the next general election, said.

“We cannot pretend that the current system is providing good healthcare for people when "everyone is queueing for everything,” he said.

According to him, there have been a lot of changes since the NHS was set up seven decades ago and the model adopted at the time does not work going forward.

The Conservative politician said, “people are living longer, therefore needing more health care, and social care for that matter, new medicines. And everyone rightly wants to get access to new medicines and treatments and also the changing burden of disease.”

"You know, we have a lot more obese people today, we have a lot more problems with addiction," Javid, who previously worked as home secretary and chancellor of the exchequer said.

“We cannot pretend that the current system is providing good healthcare for people when "everyone is queueing for everything,” he said.

More For You

Report reveals Birmingham’s doctors face racism and bullying
Absences have risen at the Queen Elizabeth and Heartlands Hospitals in Birmingham, as well as Good Hope in Sutton and Solihull Hospital

Report reveals Birmingham’s doctors face racism and bullying

Gurdip Thandi

YOUNG doctors in Birmingham hospitals face a ‘shocking’ number of incidents of bullying, racism and sexism from patients and other staff.

The Medical Academy Annual Report was presented to a University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust board meeting, which revealed the data.

Keep ReadingShow less
Former police officer arrested in Rotherham investigation

Investigators believe the earlier offences happened between 1995 and 2002 (Photo for representation: iStock)

Former police officer arrested in Rotherham investigation

A FORMER police officer has been arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation into child sexual abuse in Rotherham, authorities revealed on Tuesday (1).

The former constable, who is in his 50s, was taken into custody on Monday (31). He is suspected of raping a teenage girl in the South Yorkshire town in 2004, according to officials.

Keep ReadingShow less
Modi Xi

Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping during their meeting in October 2024.

75 years of India-China relations: Modi, Xi call for stronger ties

INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping exchanged messages on Tuesday to mark the 75th anniversary of India-China diplomatic relations.

Modi stated that the development of bilateral ties contributes to global stability and a multipolar world, while Xi called for a "dragon-elephant tango" to strengthen cooperation between the two countries, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sri Lanka forms committee to address UK sanctions
Anura Kumara Dissanayake

Sri Lanka forms committee to address UK sanctions

THE Sri Lanka government on Wednesday (2) formed a committee to recommend measures regarding the UK's decision to impose sanctions on three former military commanders who led the campaign that crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.

Health minister Nalinda Jayatissa told reporters that foreign minister Vijitha Herath, justice minister Harshana Nanayakkara and deputy minister of defence Aruna Jayasekara would comprise the committee that would consult experts for the purpose.

Keep ReadingShow less
Gujarat-blast-ANI

The blast caused the factory’s concrete roof to collapse, scattering debris and body parts across the area, officials confirmed. (Photo: ANI)

ANI

Death toll rises to 21 in Gujarat firework factory explosion

AN EXPLOSION at an illegal firecracker factory in Gujarat's Deesa town killed 21 people and injured several others on Tuesday, officials said.

The blast caused the factory’s concrete roof to collapse, scattering debris and body parts across the area, officials confirmed.

Keep ReadingShow less