CALLING in the Army will do little to ease pressures on the NHS, leading health policy analyst Roy Lilley has said.
Mr Lilley, former vice-chairman of West Surrey and North East Hampshire Health Authority, commented on plans for armed forces personnel to be deployed to help ease waiting times in the NHS.
He told Mark Longhurst on GB News: “We’re certainly facing real problems but the ability for the Department of Health to call on the Ministry of Defence as a contingency for real problems has always been there. It’s part of the government’s emergency planning.
“Quite what they’ll do, I don’t know. I mean, quite a lot of the Army does have, of course, the Royal Army Medical Corps, but a lot of them are reservists and a lot of them are already working in hospitals.”
“If the paramedics go on strike then certainly they will be able to drive ambulances and things like that, but it will make a small difference, I think is the answer.”
Asked about the Government spending £113 million on research on cutting-edge treatments, he said: “I really don’t want to sound churlish here.
You know, if ever there’s any money for the NHS, I’m always in the front of the queue, but you know, 30 million each for cancer, obesity, mental health…I mean, firstly, it’s a tiny amount of money.
“Secondly, things like obesity are a kind of lifetime problem. Mental Health. The big problem we got mental health is there aren’t enough staff in mental health. Not enough nurses and not enough psychiatrists, a lot of them have left.
“So if you look at all these problems, these are all long range problems. Now, look, a fresh pair of eyes coming in from the outside, I mean – certainly the vaccine rollout was a huge success with Kate Bingham and perhaps she can work her magic here.
“But my kind of guess is that this is really more of a public relations stunt.”
Mr Lilley told GB News: “We’ve got…ambulances queuing around the block, waiting times are now nudging 8 million.
“The NHS problems are not in a long range..the problems are getting your granny a hip operation next week.
“Like I said, I don’t want to be churlish, I don’t want to be mean-minded, you know, bring the cash the NHS will spend it. But in terms of outcomes, what are the outcomes?
“Will we live long enough to see what they are?”
