The health secretary has compared the NHS to defunct video firm Blockbuster and said it must be more like Netflix

Sajid Javid told this morning’s Cabinet meeting that the health service needed to catch up with modern technology in order to battle the post-Covid backlog.

But the opposition has criticised him for using the ‘absurd’ analogy without coming up with a plan to reduce record-high waiting lists.

In a readout of the meeting, No10 said: ‘The Health and Social Care Secretary updated Cabinet on the scale of the challenge post pandemic – saying we had a Blockbuster healthcare system in the age of Netflix.

‘He said it was no longer simply an option to stick with the status quo.

‘He said large-scale changes were needed in areas such as the use of technology and data to help frontline workers deliver the high-quality service the public expects. ‘

Blockbuster had over 500 stores in the UK at the height of its popularity.

It went bust in 2010 and shut its remaining stores three years later as viewers switched to online streaming services.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said Mr Javid was trying to make the point that some healthcare systems were ‘designed for a different age’ and changes were needed to make the 74-year-old NHS sustainable for the long-term.

But he admitted there was no new money to cover the reforms, beyond what had already been set out by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The spokesman said Mr Javid is of the view that there needs to be ‘big and bold changes to the NHS and care system so the public can get the level of service they expect’.

He added: ‘There is no further investment beyond obviously … the funding envelope already set out by the Chancellor.’

The government has said the new National Insurance hike introduced in April will raise £36bn for the NHS in the next three years – but critics say this is still not enough to tackle the backlog.

Last month, the waiting list for NHS hospital care in England hit another record high of 6.4 million people.

Experts said treatment delays will only get worse amid ‘skyrocketing’ demand and huge staff shortages.

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health service trusts, said when the figures came out: ‘Services are working together to put the additional investment from the government to best use, but they are doing so in increasingly intolerable circumstances, with 110,000 vacancies and patient demand skyrocketing.

‘Leaders are concerned that unless more support and greater acknowledgment to the reality facing frontline care given, then delivery against these vital targets could crumble.’

Asked today who was to blame for the situation given the Tories have been in power for 12 years, the PM’s spokesman replied: ‘I think this is an issue that has been across successive governments.

‘The pandemic has created a step change in the scale of the problem we’ve seen facing the NHS.’

Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting later poured scorn on Mr Javid’s Blockbuster and Netflix comments, claiming ministers talk in ‘the biggest generalities’ without plans to follow through.

Asked about the Health Secretary’s remarks on Tuesday, he told an audience at an event hosted by the Institute for Government think tank: ‘So what?”

‘I think it’s slightly absurd that 12 years into a government we have government ministers who talk in the biggest generalities without plans to deliver anything,’ he said.

‘We have a government that is not governing and doesn’t have answers. It just has generalities.’

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