It took him a decade but Jeremy Hunt might just have revived the NHS 🖊️ It all stems from being a very bored minister, writes IsabelHardman
When Hunt was offered the job of health secretary back in September 2012, the then PM David Cameron was very clear what he wanted his minister to do: ‘Turn the volume down’ was bored. He had been given a job in an area he hadn’t paid much attention to before, after a very bruising period as culture secretary where he had been chased by scandals. The new role, health secretary, was a chance for him to rebuild. But there was one problem. He wasn’t actually allowed to do anything.
Craig Oliver was No 10’s director of communications at the time, and recalls “spending half my time in arguments with Jeremy Hunt, who wanted to go out there and sing the praises of the government that was actually incredibly supportive of the NHS”. But Oliver’s job was to tell him that “the more you mention this issue, the worse it is for us”.
The answer to that question was only really completed this week when Rishi Sunak’s Government published its. This 15-year plan promises £2.4bn over the next five years to double medical school places and nearly double nurse and midwifery student places, as well as increasing the number of physician and nursing associate workers who can help doctors and nurses with their workload. It is ambitious, if lacking full detail on how the long-term vacancies will be filled – or funded.
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