The news that hundreds of avoidable deaths have been saved by putting eleven hospital trusts into special measures is mixed news. It is very good that death rates have fallen; it shows that very large numbers of avoidable deaths occur in the NHS and that is very bad. This underscores the reality of the NHS. At one level it is brilliant but at other levels very much less so. Can this be remedied? Not with its present operating model.
First of all the NHS is funded back to front; second too many consultants are engaged in private practice; third the hierarchical medical profession has too many artificial barriers and practices; four hospitals should operate continuously at full blast, 24/7 365 days a year. More on all this another time. This is just to flag up that there is a better way.