Tell us something we don’t know – the NHS is in crisis, will take at least eight years to fix and it can’t have more money.

It’s not all about cash. It’s about an old creaking institution that is not fit for purpose and has needed root and branch reform for years.

There are too few beds, not enough carers, an ageing population and shocking cross-institution communications, which cause blocks, chasms of care and delays.

Any new cash should be spent on replacing decaying buildings. Cancer patients shouldn’t have to dodge buckets under leaky roofs in corridors.

Everyone has stories about witnessing and experiencing disastrous service as much as the wonderful treatment and care delivered every day; from filthy wards, to dehydrated elderly patients neglected by busy staff and overlooked hygiene care to the extraordinary lifesaving work by doctors.

We also all know someone in pain, on medication, and waiting in a meandering queue stretching into the distant future. People whose surgery, at the end of years on a waiting list, has been cancelled and them sent home again.

Everyone has a tale that shines a light on the ineffective – or even lack of – communication across the service that leads to a waste of (public) money, resources and time, and, at its worst, lives.

The NHS is something everyone has an opinion about on the level of service deserved and what meted out in the name of health care.

Patients aren’t blameless either for the chaos of the system. We also know people who miss appointments, use the NHS services like its their own private drop-in centre and are rude to front line staff. 

The people who take no responsibility for their own health and view the number of ailments and prescribed medication they have as badges of honour.

And we’ve all heard horror stories from people working in the NHS; stories of inefficiency, waste, unprofessionalism and rank management and leadership. A broken community of demoralised people responsible for the health care of a nation is never going to get the best result and underpin a global power.

The NHS has been crying out for radical reform for too long. The crisis is far more than a political issue – it is a national emergency that can only be fixed by a united approach for the national good.

It demands a war cabinet-like approach, with a cross-party taskforce charged with one mission – to create a national health service that works for a UK in 2030 and beyond.

Every other word in successive government is about targets – net zero, renewable energy targets, waiting list targets, education targets, productivity targets. How about a target to make the NHS work for those who need it when they need it?

When the word ‘crisis’ is applied to the NHS, the key cause is too few beds.

When the ‘new ‘Norfolk and Norwich hospital was planned there was warning upon warning that there were too few beds planned. These were batted away because day surgery plans would take care of it.

Was the ageing, and remote rural, population taken into account in these calculations in the early 1990s? I think we know the answer and a root of the subsequent problems we see today.

According to OECD figures, the UK has the lowest number of hospital beds per head of population in Europe after Sweden, and just one-third the number of Germany.

We know better use could be made of existing beds by discharging patients more quickly into the community if there was the community care. Talk to those who rely on community carers – and the carers themselves – and this is also in crisis.

This week’s scathing report from Lord Darzi found the NHS in England is ‘in serious trouble’ and in 163 pages describes not just an inefficient service but a dangerous one.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said a 10-point plan outlining the government’s approach to the reforms will not be published until spring next year, but key changes needed to be shifting from hospital to community care, changing from analogue to digital and moving from treating sickness to preventing it. Nothing new there then.

One solution, improved social care, is in the grip of a skills crisis, worsened by Brexit. Until more people can be found to be trained to work in the community, hospital beds will still be occupied with people who don’t need to  be there but can’t go home alone.

But being a carer suits only a limited number of people. It’s tough, low paid and takes special qualities.

There’s no time to waste to bring an NHS Crisis Cabinet together.

A prosperous thriving and productive country demands a healthy population. A failing health service creates ailing people and a sick nation.

An horrific prospect

It was only a matter to time in our quick fix world that a drug would be invented as a solution for overweight children.

A daily jab of the drug, Saxenda – the chemical liraglutide – has been found to cut body mass index and improve blood pressure in six to 12-year-olds after a 56-week trial. Medics say it would be safe and effective.

What a horrific prospect. Obesity is a long-term problem addressed by lifestyle not a jab with a needle. What side or long-term effects could this cause?

Just because scientists discover a chemical ‘solution’ doesn’t mean it’s ethical or healthy.