Pretending the NHS is the 'best at everything' will not help anyone, Sajid Javid said today as he committed to driving down England's record high waiting lists.
The Health Secretary warned the Covid backlog for routine procedures could reach up to 13million people in the coming months.
And he announced a major review of NHS leadership and management in a bid to shake up the health service.
Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference today, Mr Javid said that if the nation values the NHS, it is natural it would want it to be the best it can be.
He said: 'The NHS may have the best principle behind it, staffed by some of the best people our country has to offer.
'But that of course doesn’t mean that as an organisation, it is the best at everything. It wouldn’t help anyone to pretend otherwise.
'Our undeniable commitment to the NHS is what should drive us to make it as effective as it can be.'
Mr Javid said he has asked retired General Sir Gordon Messenger to lead a review of leadership and management in health and social care.
It comes after it was claimed today hospital bosses who fail to clear record-long NHS waiting lists may face the sack.
Sajid Javid is preparing new powers to seize control of hospitals which aren't performing well enough, according to The Times.
Pretending the NHS is the 'best at everything' will not help anyone, Sajid Javid said today as he committed to driving down England's record high waiting lists
The number of patients waiting for routine hospital treatment hit 5.6million in July, the highest figure since records began in 2007
Speaking at the conference today, Mr Javid said: 'When I came in, I said that I was not just the Covid Secretary, but the Health & Social Care Secretary.
'There was no doubt about the biggest item spilling out of my in-tray: an NHS waiting list that will get worse before it gets better, projected to grow as high as 13 million.
'No government, no health secretary, no society can accept that.
'That’s why we have prioritised elective recovery – check-ups, scans, surgeries with the biggest catch-up fund in the history of the NHS.
'And we are already delivering including rolling out surgical hubs, and 40 new Community Diagnostic Centres right across the country.'
One in ten people in England are stuck on waiting list for operations, with the numbers expected to continue to rise in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
NHS data showed that 5.6million people across the country were waiting for elective surgery in July — the most since records began in 2007.
Mr Javid today urged patients facing long waiting times because of the backlog of routine procedures — which spiked during the Covid pandemic — not to go private.
He insisted the health service 'can manage it' but refused to say when he expects the lists to clear, on his hundredth day in the job.
Meanwhile, Mr Javid admitted remote GP appointments on the health service are here to stay after the pandemic.
Mr Javid is under pressure from No10 to reduce waiting times after last month's £36billion spending plan for health and social care.
He
