The primary care system is ‘not fit for purpose’ and more should be done to ensure areas of health prevention and promotion are ‘better addressed’, a former health secretary has warned.
Speaking yesterday at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry Sir Sajid Javid, who was health secretary from June 2021 to July 2022, described primary care as ‘a compromise for when the NHS was created’ and said that it ‘doesn’t work’.
‘It’s the worst parts of the private sector and the worst parts of the public sector combined into one,’ he told the inquiry.
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He claimed he wanted to independently review the primary care sector while he was in the Department of Health and Social Care but said that it was ‘blocked’.
Sir Javid also warned that prevention needed more attention and that significant improvements could be made in vaccination promotion and healthcare messaging across government.
‘I think it’s so important that there’s a lot in terms of better healthcare, especially prevention, that can be done through help from other government departments,’ he said.
‘But the way the government is structured, the way priorities are set, understandably, for other government departments, health isn’t always a priority for them,’ he explained.
If ‘all of government’ worked together, key health areas like smoking, obesity and drug and alcohol addiction could be ‘better addressed’, he told the inquiry.
His comments came during the latest phase of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry which is focused on the impact of the pandemic on healthcare.
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Speaking to the inquiry last week Matt Hancock, who was the health and social care secretary before Sir Javid, defended the introduction of compulsory vaccination for social care workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The compulsory vaccination programme was eventually scrapped by Sir Javid following consultation.
Earlier this month, the inquiry heard from a Band 5 staff nurse who said colleagues who contracted long Covid during the pandemic and subsequently left their jobs have been let down and made to feel ‘disposable’ by NHS management.
It also heard from professional lead for infection prevention and control (IPC) at the Royal College of Nursing, Rose Gallagher, about the need for IPC guidance to reflect a variety of health and care environments to better protect nurses.
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In September, former chief nursing officers (CNOs) from the four nations shared their experiences of working in the pandemic.
Dame Ruth May, former CNO for England, described the removal of the bursary for student nurses as a ‘catastrophic decision’ which undermined pre-pandemic preparations and had a lasting impact on the nursing workforce.
