The Guardian – Thousands dying due to NHS delays, inquiry finds
The Guardian says Sir Keir Starmer will say the NHS must “reform or die” after former health minister Lord Darzi’s inquiry into the health service.
The paper says the report is a damning critique of how previous governments have neglected the NHS and how that left the health service unable to provide timely care. The paper says the report is a “scathing indictment of the Conservatives’ 14-year stewardship of the NHS”. It carries a warning from the report saying it will take longer than five years to get treatment waiting times back on track.
The front page also reports that Donald Trump’s team is in ‘damage control mode’ following a widely-panned debate with Kamala Harris.
Long NHS delays in England leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths, inquiry finds
Long delays for hospital, GP and mental health services are leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths and have ruptured “the social contract between the NHS and the people”, an inquiry has concluded.
The findings of the study by Lord Ara Darzi, commissioned by Labour when it came to power, will be cited by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, who will on Thursday warn that the NHS has to “reform or die”.
In his detailed analysis of NHS England’s woes and path to recovery, Darzi warns the prime minister that it will take his government longer than the five years Labour promised before the election to get treatment waiting times back on track. He has estimated privately that the task will take “four to eight years”.
Darzi says: “I have no doubt that significant progress will be possible, but it is unlikely that waiting lists can be cleared and other performance standards restored in one parliamentary term.”
Harris-Trump debate watched by 67m people, beating pivotal Biden showdown
An estimated 67.1 million people watched the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, a 31% increase from the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden that eventually led to the president dropping out of the 2024 race.
The debate was run by ABC News but shown on 17 different networks, the Nielsen company said. The Trump-Biden debate in June was seen by 51.3 million people.
Tuesday’s count was short of the record viewership for a presidential debate, when 84 million people saw Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s first face-off in 2016. The first debate between Biden and Trump in 2020 reached 73.1 million people.
There was a marked increase in younger and middle-aged viewers, with 53% more adults aged 18-49 tuning in to see Harris debate Trump than watched Biden do the same, according to Nielsen data.
Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
If you are someone who reads every perspective of a story, here is a news summary of all of today’s front pages from today’s newspapers; summarised in a 2-minute read
Editorial 12 September 2024.
Thursday’s front pages focus on a major report on the NHS which is to be published today. Lord Darzi’s report on the state of the NHS in England is set to say major reform is needed for the national health service.
Elsewhere, analysis of the US presidential election TV debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump also looms large on the front pages.
A splash of other domestic and international stories find space on some of the front pages, including a report that the UK and US are considering letting Ukraine use long-range missiles in Russia.