Two ideas to fix Britain’s ailing health service

How to fix Britain’s ailing National Health Service? Public satisfaction has reached a record low, according to the long-running and highly regarded British Social Attitudes survey. Just 24 per cent of people say they are satisfied with the service, citing long waiting times and staff shortages among their biggest concerns. When Labour left office in 2010, satisfaction levels were at a record 70 per cent. Professor Sir Julian le Grand, an advisor to Tony Blair, told Tortoise’s Trendy podcast that the NHS needs to reintroduce more “terror and targets”. Terror in this instance means muscular performance management of hospitals and management. He believes this can raise a service from “abysmal to average”. To raise it to excellent, he advises the next government to introduce more choice and incentives for staff.