Darzi’s NHS review shows depth of problems for Labour

Findings may buy time but highlight government policy tensions Ara Darzi’s independent review into the performance of the NHS in England, commissioned soon after Labour’s election victory in July 2024, was published on 12 September.1 The idea was to provide a rapid assessment of the state of the health system—focusing on problems, not solutions. Darzi’s findings are intended to inform the government’s 10 year plan for reforming the English NHS—expected in spring next year.2 The report comes around 16 years after Darzi’s last review into the English NHS.3 Darzi paints a bleak picture of a health system in crisis.1 People are waiting too long for care in hospitals, primary care, mental health services—everywhere. Long waits in major hospital emergency departments are pulling at the social contract underpinning the NHS and likely to be contributing to thousands of additional deaths. Quality of care is mixed. And care in some areas, such as for people with cardiovascular disease, seems to be going in the wrong direction. The share of NHS resources going to hospitals is increasing, despite repeated political promises to do the opposite, and NHS productivity has stalled. The NHS’s problems …