A banker in the boardroom is exactly what our health service needs
Over the past two years, rightly or wrongly, the NHS has become Britain’s national religion. So perhaps it’s a good thing that there’s now a banker in charge. One tiresome left-leaning news outlet this weekend titled its story about former TSB chief Richard Meddings’ new appointment thusly: “Fury as banker set to become chair of NHS England.”
Twitter was soon abuzz with commentary. One @Fud4Thort tweeted “who’d have thought the Tories want to sell off the NHS eh?.” Another described it as “despicable disgraceful dishonourable dishonest” which if a tad over the top was at least alliterative.
It is safe to say we take a different view. The NHS is at this point an unwieldy, hugely expensive, but nonetheless still vital national asset. It needs to be run properly. It needs good governance. And it needs above all to be challenged from the outside.
And since our financial sector is without a shadow of a doubt the most successful industry the UK has that doesn’t involve putting a small leather ball into a net, it makes sense to bring people into the NHS to whip it into shape.
Health spending is well on its way to bankrupting the country. It has grown at a quite extraordinary level over the past twenty years, and the pandemic has seen the cost increase further. In 1999-2000, it accounted for 27 per cent on all state spending. According to the wonks at the Institute of Fiscal Studies, by 2024-25 it will be 44 per cent. If we continue on this path, to borrow a phrase, we will become a health system with a country bolted on. The tax implications, if we want to retain other public services, are extraordinary.
Meddings must take to the job attention to detail, and a willingness to challenge the orthodoxy of what has become the single most powerful institution in the United Kingdom, despite the fact it continues to perform poorly on a host of international measures. Stick a banker on the board? We can’t think of a better idea.