‘A correct diagnosis’: Keyhole pioneer Prof Lord Darzi asked to untangle NHS

World-renowned surgeon Prof Lord Darzi has been appointed by ministers to lead an independent inquiry into the performance of the NHS.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said the inquiry would aim to “diagnose the problem” so ministers could “prescribe the prescription”. The job, tasked with assessing evidence that could help reform the NHS, presents an opportunity for an innovator who relishes a challenge.

Born in Baghdad, an early brush with death as a five-year-old Armenian refugee ignited Ara Darzi’s lifelong passion for the power to heal. Just weeks after starting school, he was hospitalized with meningitis, and his family was told to prepare for the worst, but he survived. Doctors teased him by suggesting he join the life-saving movement when he grew up.

Darzi needed no further encouragement. He moved to Ireland at 17 to study medicine, completed his training in England and became a consultant. He was nicknamed “Robo Doc” because he pioneered the use of keyhole surgery and was a pioneer in robotics in the operating room.

Labour has previously asked him to help with the NHS. Darzi was “flabbergasted” when Gordon Brown invited him to become Health Secretary in 2007. Darzi did not want to stop operating, but agreed on condition that he could still operate – which he likes to do with Pink Floyd playing – on Fridays and Saturdays.

In 2008 he led a review of the NHS in 2008 which recommended an unwavering focus on quality of care. It also called for a shift from political control and auditing of processes to professional responsibility for clinical outcomes.

Improving the quality of care is likely to be a key theme again in Darzi’s 2024 review. But the NHS he is assessing today is in a much worse state than it was 16 years ago. An estimated 7.6 million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of May, affecting 6.38 million patients, according to NHS England data published on Thursday.

Beyond hospitals, mental health services, particularly for children, are in disarray due to record demand, while community services and ambulance services – two areas often overlooked by ministers – also require emergency treatment.

Darzi has previously emphasized that general medicine is an important field where life-saving surgery is needed. Last year I wrote for the Financial Timeshe said the last Labour government “focused on hospital reform” while the subsequent Conservative government focused on healthcare funding. “There has been relatively little attention paid to care outside hospitals,” he added.

That seems to be changing. The Guardian revealed this week how ministers were planning to shift billions of pounds from hospitals to GPs to “fix the front door to the NHS”. The government also seems increasingly enthusiastic about the idea that there needs to be a greater focus on preventing ill health in the first place.

But first the NHS must arrange an appointment with a doctor and take scans to determine the extent of the operation required.

“As every clinician and every patient knows, the first step in addressing any health problem is a correct diagnosis,” Darzi said after his appointment was announced Thursday.

“My work will analyse the evidence to understand where we are today – and how we got here – so that healthcare can move forward. This is an important step in re-establishing quality of care as the organising principle of the NHS.”