Conversations about ‘modernising’ the NHS have been happening for almost as long as the NHS itself. The 2019 Long Term Plan put so-called ‘patient-centred care’ at the forefront, writing that: “The NHS also needs a more fundamental shift in how we work alongside patients and individuals to deliver more person-centred care, recognising – as National Voices has championed – the importance of ‘what matters to someone’ is not just ‘what’s the matter with someone’.”

All well and good, but then, came the pandemic. The new health secretary Sajid Javid has said that that waiting list will rise to 13 million people in the coming months.

Where does that leave efforts to modernise the NHS now, and in particular for that patient-led vision that the Long Term Plan had set out?

Kate Andrews hosts this special episode of Spectator Sounds with a panel of expert guests:

Sir Jim Mackey, head of Northumbria’s NHS Trust and former head of NHS Improvement

Charlotte Augst, head of National Voices, a coalition group of patient-centred health charities

Todd Manning, the Vice-President and General Manager of Abbvie UK.

This podcast is sponsored by Abbvie UK.