Streeting fails to honour his promise of ‘saving’ the NHS

The NHS is set to miss crucial targets for reducing A&E waiting times and cancer care this week. An analysis of recent data shows that health secretary, Wes Streeting, is overseeing a service where millions face persistent, life-threatening delays. Shocking, isn’t it, that a man accepting funds from private healthcare actors is letting this happen?

Wes Streeting has again accepted over £50,000 from a firm whose owner has longstanding links to private healthcare 🚨 https://t.co/dj5VsttQps

— The National (@ScotNational) March 25, 2026

Labour promised to ‘get the NHS back on its feet’—right? However, the health service in England won’t deliver the milestone improvements demanded by the government before the fiscal year ends on Tuesday 31 March 2026.

Streeting is missing every major target he set

Streeting has repeatedly pledged to ensure 92% of patients waiting for non-urgent care are seen within 18 weeks by 2029. The reality on the ground is fucking disastrous. Only 61.5% of patients were seen within that timeframe in January, missing the interim 65% year end target.

The crisis in emergency care is even more fucked up. In February 2025, 25.9% of A&E departments waited over four hours to be seen. Four hours. That could be the difference between life and death for your nana suffering chest pains. Or for the little kid with a blinding headache or allergic reaction.

Streeting’s specific target was to reduce this to 22% by tomorrow. And of course, the sentient forehead has failed. And by failing he has effectively condemned thousands to death.

The “human consequence” of this failure is massive. Over 54,000 people waited more than 12 hours for a hospital bed in February 2026. As a comparison, in February 2020, that figure was just 1,621. What the hell happened, Wes?

We are effectively seeing a total collapse in patient safety.

Cancer care is falling through the cracks

Cancer patients are also being let down by Streeting. Only 68.4% of patients received their first treatment within 62 days of an urgent care referral in January 2026. This is waaaaay below the 85% operational standard that we, the public, expect. It is wholly unacceptable for a service we’re all fucking pay for.

Does this mean you are going to increase training numbers for oncology and more importantly consultant jobs for the doctors when they get there?

Doctors are angry investment and it takes time but the rewards outweigh the costs. Question is are you going to invest?

— Dr Nick Dalmon (@DrNickDalmon) January 23, 2026

Furthermore, a record 1.8m people are now stuck on waiting lists for diagnostic testing. This is the highest number since record began two decades ago. Without these tests doctors can’t diagnose or treat life-threatening conditions like cancer or heart disease.

Streeting has claimed that our NHS is on the road to recovery—another blatant lie. Approximately, 70% of trusts failed to improve their 18-week performance by the required 5% this year, and in 44 trusts, the situation actually worsened.

So, Streeting is lying to the public, as he slowly ushering in an age of private healthcare.

Our NHS staff can’t take it anymore

Streeting’s failure is also a failure of the workforce. England has just 3.2 doctors per 1,000 people. We need a staggering 40,000 more doctors just to reach the average for similar countries. Vita, a resident doctor in the North East spoke to the Canary this morning on the issue:

“As a resident doctor, I am really disappointed by how the government has handled the staffing crisis in the NHS. I have spent the last two months, sat at home, unemployed, whilst my patients wait in corridors and on waiting lists and I have been desperate for a job, and unable to find one. We don’t have enough doctors in this country and the ones we do have, we don’t treat well enough. We have to put money into the NHS and that’s just the bottom line.

The pressure is absolutely crushing those who choose to remain in the NHS.

A recent survey revealed that 31.4% of staff describe themselves as burned out—nearly a third. Additionally, 56% of staff admitted to working while unwell in the last three months. That’s over half—let that sink in. In February there were 469 fewer qualified GPs than in September 2015.

Susanna Reid asks Wes Streeting if the NHS is going to get extra staff to do all the extra online appointments he's planning.

Also, notice how Streeting is unwilling to say 'the private sector' when it comes to healthcare. Instead its the independent sector #GMB pic.twitter.com/3JWQqX6HSf

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) January 6, 2026

The government gave hospitals an extra £120m for a “pre-deadline elective sprint” to bolster performance. It’s literally sticking a plaster on a fucking shark bite at this point. Throwing tiny sums at a system in systemic decline won’t fix the underlying rot.

Labour has to change course, now.

Streeting’s approach isn’t working, that much is clear. He’s missing targets, failing patients and burning out those who work to heal us. If Labour keeps this up, the promise to save the NHS will become another hollow political slogan.

Public satisfaction with the NHS is at a near-record low of 26%. Patients don’t want financial sprints or political bullshit—they want a health services that works. We want our tax money to stop funding private contracts, funnelling our cash into shareholder pockets. Streeting must decide if he can deliver on what he set out to do.

The time for excuses is over, Wes. Are you going to provide the radical investment that the NHS needs, or watch one of the best national services we have crumble?

I reckon I know which one.

Featured image via the Canary