Act on Darzi findings to create a 'modern, responsive NHS', says CSP

The report, which the CSP was invited to contribute to through its role as co-convenor of the Community Rehab Alliance (CRA), outlines the dire state of services, infrastructure and staffing in the NHS.

It highlights the damage done by the 2012 NHS reforms by the coalition government, a decade of austerity and the Covid pandemic.

But, noting that the health service’s ‘vital signs are strong’, Lord Darzi's report provides a roadmap for recovery.

Prominent among his findings is a need for more care to be moved out of hospitals and into the community – a cornerstone of the CRA’s submission to the review.

Elsewhere, Lord Darzi highlights the growing need for MSK services, impacting on people’s ability to work and bringing consequences for the economy as well as patients.

Transforming the NHS

Responding to publication of the report, Rob Yeldham, the CSP’s director of strategy, said:

‘These are issues we have been calling for action over for many years. Acting on these findings would transform the NHS into a modern, responsive health service that is built around population need.

‘Community rehab keeps people out of hospital and is essential in a time when more people are living with multiple long-term conditions. The recognition of the growing challenge is very welcome.

‘But we need more physios, support workers and other rehab staff to deliver expanded services. So we also welcome the recognition of the pressures our members and other NHS workers face every day.

As well as ensuring we have more and better trained staff, the government must ensure the NHS does everything in its power to retain those it already has by addressing stress, workloads and supportive management

The report was commissioned by the new health secretary, Wes Streeting, ahead of the forthcoming budget and spending review.

The CSP will be pressing the case for better investment in physiotherapy at the Labour conference in Liverpool this month.