{"id":223098,"date":"2026-01-02T08:08:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/223098\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T08:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:08:04","slug":"nick-hulme-warns-nhs-future-at-risk-without-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/223098\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Hulme warns NHS future at risk without reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mr Hulme argues not all care needs to be delivered by a doctor or surgeon.<\/p>\n

Some tasks, he says, can be done safely by other professionals under supervision. He cites sexual health services, now largely nurse-led, freeing doctors to focus on complex cases.<\/p>\n

“We need to have a conversation with the professions about working in silos and whether we need all the qualifications,” he says.<\/p>\n

He acknowledges pushback over physician associates and anaesthetic associates. <\/p>\n

The British Medical Association \u2013 the doctors’ professional body \u2013 has raised concerns about patient safety and role clarity<\/a> and pressed for clearer regulation.<\/p>\n

A government-commissioned review by Gillian Leng backed up a number of these concerns when it reported in 2025, external<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Hulme’s position? Define roles clearly, supervise properly, and let doctors concentrate on work only they can do.<\/p>\n

On intense competition for speciality training, he says supply and demand may mean some doctors will need to rethink career plans.<\/p>\n

Asked what he would say to politicians who claim the NHS cannot be fixed, he replies:<\/p>\n

“If you cut me, I’d bleed blue. I love the NHS \u2013 it’s the most precious thing about living in this country.<\/p>\n

“It’s so special we can’t afford to lose it. We can fix it, but we have to look at international best practice \u2013 and it’s down to us.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mr Hulme argues not all care needs to be delivered by a doctor or surgeon. Some tasks, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-223098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}