Long-term sustainability of NHS discussed in the Lords

Debate

Lord Patel (Crossbench), former professor of obstetrics at Ninewells Hospital, University of Dundee, put forward the debate.

This was a general debate. During debates, members put their experience to good use to discuss current issues and draw the government's attention to concerns.      

Members speaking

Contributing members included:

• Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (Conservative), member of the Cancer Research UK Policy Steering Group
• Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Non-affiliated), vice chair of the Specialised Healthcare Alliance
• Lord Crisp (Crossbench), former chief executive of NHS England
• Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench), physician and member of the British Medical Association Ethics Committee
• Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour), former chief executive of the NHS Confederation
• Baroness Pitkeathley (Labour), vice president of Carers UK
• Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrats), member of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
• Baroness Tyler of Enfield (Liberal Democrats), former non-executive director of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

Opening the debate, Lord Patel said: 

'The current state of the NHS is not because of some inevitable built-in decay; it is a system failure. It is the result of decades of political short-termism, a lack of long-term planning and an underinvestment in capital infrastructure and technology.'

Responding on behalf of the government, Lord Markham (Conservative), Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, said:

'We spend about 10% of our GDP on the NHS right now. It is going up as a proportion year after year.

'Therefore, I think that what we can all unite on right now is that this is an argument not about pumping in lots more money but about finding other ways to try to make the NHS more sustainable.'

Catch up

Watch the Parliament TV recording or read the Lords Hansard transcript.

Explore background information  

• Find out more about the issues the debate covers in the House of Lords Library briefing. 
• Learn more about how the House of Lords checks and challenges government.

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