The NHS is broken and that is resulting in poor treatment for patients. It may be seen as heresy to say that the NHS is not very good at delivering care, given the regard that so many people hold it in.

But when it is failing to hit most of its key performance targets, there’s no getting away from the difficult conversations that the next g overnment will need to have about the state of the healthcare system in this country,

Despite new figures indicating a second month when the waiting list has fallen, 11,168 people in England were waiting more than 18 months to start routine hospital treatment at the end of November, up from 10,506 at the end of October.

A&E waits also worsened, with 69.4 per cent of patients in England seen within four hours in A&Es in December, down from 69.7 per cent in November and against a target set for March this year of 76 per cent.

An Accident and Emergency sign. PIC: Chris Radburn/PA Wire

Cancer targets are still being missed, leaving the country lagging behind other developed nations.

All the while billions are being poured into the ailing NHS just to keep it going. It will require genuine leadership to solve the conundrum that healthcare has become in this country.

That is why any future government would do well to appoint a tsar and task them to conduct a review into the healthcare system before the NHS collapses under the weight of an ageing population. This would need to be backed with difficult decisions that may prove unpopular but necessary for safeguarding the future of the NHS.

There’s a danger that statistics can become detached from reality. Therefore it’s worth remembering that every number represents someone’s lived experience.

People who are often in pain and left feeling vulnerable.

The NHS is broken and it will require some tough decisions to fix healthcare in this country

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