'The NHS is utterly dysfunctional and simply doesn't work - reform is urgently required'

I've spent almost 50-years in medicine - many of those spent travelling the world visiting and inspecting health systems in use. I can honestly say, in the developed world, I cannot name a more dysfunctional and ineffective way of delivering healthcare than the NHS - it simply does not work.

Rather than more endless consultations, which will drag on for months and deliver nothing, we should be looking to friends across the world. What works? What doesn't work? Put simply, let's copy their success. There is a reason that nobody is queuing up to imitate the NHS.

Wes Streeting has a unique opportunity to deliver the reform that is desperately required. Unlike the Conservatives, who were utterly petrified of accusations of "privatisation", he has the political cover. Yes, the hard left of the Labour Party will screech and howl, but Wes needs to ignore these puritans and plough on.

Until the hard questions are asked, the health service will limp on. Sticking plaster after sticking plaster, all leaving the fundamental issues untouched.

Public consultations are all well and good, but what will actually change? It smells more of a PR stunt than a genuine attempt at discourse.

We need a Royal Commission on NHS reform. Cut out the usual bureaucrats and middle-managers, and speak to the doctors and physicians actually delivering the care. Power has been stripped away in favour of a bureaucratic system that does not deliver for the patient.

Bring in those of us from outside the existing medical establishment who have dared to raise challenging questions before. Rather than freezing us heretics out, it may be time to accept that those of us who have questioned the effectiveness of our current health system might actually have a point.

I've spent many decades campaigning for NHS reform, often in the face of unpleasant abuse. At times I have questioned whether it's worth it, but I am more confident than ever that the way in which the NHS delivers healthcare is not fit for the 21st Century. Fundamental reform is required, and it's required urgently.