Throwing money at the NHS is not the solution to crisis in the health service

Throwing more money at the NHS will not address its fundamental weaknesses, warned the author of a major review into health service leadership.

General Sir Gordon Messenger said the NHS urgently needs improvements in management, without which extra funding will be wasted.

He suggested supermarkets and banks are better at ensuring the right people are in senior management roles.

Sir Gordon, who led the Royal Marines’ invasion of Iraq in 2003, said: ‘The two big things you want from the health service are productivity… and good patient care.

Sir Gordon, who led the Royal Marines’ invasion of Iraq in 2003, said: ‘The two big things you want from the health service are productivity… and good patient care’ 

‘A really important component is a well-led, well-motivated, valued, resilient workforce, which comes from the culture, and the right attitude to leadership. I found an inadequate focus on that and unless you get the right culture, which means better leadership, it’s almost like painting the bedrooms without fixing the roof in terms of throwing money at A&E waiting times.’

Sir Gordon, whose report was ordered by Boris Johnson, made the comments a week after Rishi Sunak published a plan backed by £14billion over two years to tackle A&E and ambulance waiting times.

The general also told The Daily Telegraph that senior health management was ‘a transfer market’ with ‘headhunters paid ridiculous amounts of money phoning up the names that are already known’.