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New prime minister must prioritise NHS, say doctors’ leaders

BMJ 2022; 378 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o2166 (Published 06 September 2022) Cite this as: BMJ 2022;378:o2166

Linked Opinion

What should the health community be saying to our new prime minister?

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Missed opportunities, unsubstantiated expectation, vain hope: trusting Ms Truss to do the right thing by the NHS

Dear Editors

The "doctors’ leaders" can ask/ demand/ hope/ pray as much as they want but considering the winning candidate of the Tory party leadership contest (and consequently the UK's new PM) had made very little (if any (I am not aware of even one specific example) promises on the NHS, there is very little commitment they can hold Ms Truss to since there is virtually no promise she can renege on.

The key to being the new PM of the UK is getting more of the 160,000+ Conservative party members than the other candidates, rather than the voters of the entire nation, and considering the skewed demographic characteristics of party members (ref 1), it would be easier to commit to other things like economy, jobs and tax rather than to deal with the bottomless pit of the NHS which has already sucked a great portion of resources and finances trying to deal with the pandemic.

Hence it is no surprise that neither wants to provide any detailed ideas for the NHS but it was clear to BMJ readers at least who had some up their sleeves (and it's certainly not the winner).

There was a great opportunity for any healthcare advocates (including leaders of medical organisations) to extract some specific commitment from the two candidates regarding the repair of the NHS resources and funding; a great opportunity missed through inaction or inadequate action.

The nation will find out in less than 900 days what Ms Truss will do for the NHS (if anything) and then vote on it, but it may be too late to stop its death spiral by then.

Reference
1. https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o1934/rr

Competing interests: No competing interests

07 September 2022
Shyan Goh
Orthopaedic Surgeon
Sydney, Australia
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