On the 75th anniversary of the NHS's creation, the leaders of the three leading independent health and care think tanks urge political leaders to make the next election a decisive break point by ending years of short-termism in NHS policy-making.
Recovering NHS services and reducing waiting times for treatment should be a key priority for any government. However, our work shows that promising unachievable, unrealistically fast improvements without a long-term plan to address the underlying causes of the current crisis is a strategy doomed to failure. The path back to a stronger health service is through long-term policies that support innovation, boost productivity and provide the resources, capacity and technology it needs over multiple years.