Commonwealth Fund Report: NHS Ranking

Lord Balfe Excerpts

Tuesday 14th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I have not studied the report’s comments on mental health but, in the broad terms in which the noble Lord describes the issue, I agree. We are very committed to improving access to mental health in this country—we have invested in it, but there is more to be done. It is an area of our health system that requires more investment, which is why we have committed more money to it.

[Lord Balfe (Con)]

My Lords, reference has been made to healthcare outcomes, where we are nearly at the bottom. It is rather like saying, “Everything went well but the patient died.” One of the functions of the NHS is to provide care but, because it is such a bureaucracy, there is very little competition. Can the Minister look at ways to preserve the NHS which include some sort of built-in incentive to innovate?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I remind my noble friend that the report looks at 10 countries, so although we are at the bottom, it is bottom of a very small list. There is competition within the NHS—the 2012 Act organised that. My experience of working in healthcare, which has only been for one and a half years, is that collaboration, rather than competition, is the key to productivity. Getting diagnosis and the patient journey right requires a huge number of experts to work together and huge expertise, often in many different organisations. We are keen to use technology and modern techniques to make sure that collaboration is at the heart of the way in which the NHS works.