‘Mission Critical’ states that a ruthless prioritisation of policy will be required from the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to provide clarity and confidence in the new Government’s reform agenda for the NHS and care services over the ‘first hundred days’. 

Examining the sixty pledges made by the Labour Party across health and care over the past two years, the report recommends a focus uponfive ‘mission critical’ areas for the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care:

1. Improving NHS waiting times by maximising existing capacity and shifting focus from long waiters to reducing the overall list size. 

2. Kick-starting the delivery of a Neighbourhood Health Service to improve access to primary care;

3. Boosting the medical workforce – by focusing on a pledge to double medical school places and announcing measures to bust bureaucracy.

4. Prioritising preventative healthcare services for children and young people; and

5. Ensuring effective preparations are made for Winter. 

 The report also recommends:  

• For leading private sector talent to be recruited via an ‘Extended Ministerial Office’ to support ministers in the delivery of the new Hospital Programme;

• For measures to be introduced to cut needless red tape and for strict red lines to be drawn in negotiations with the British Medical Association’s Junior Doctor’s Committee (JDC) over pay

• For policy continuity in a number of key areas, such as boosting NHS productivity and in tackling labour market ‘inactivity’ via enhancing occupational health provision.