In their latest podcast Niall and Roy engage with Sarah Woolnough the Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, one of the country’s leading health think tanks. In a frank discussion, Sarah defends the role of think tanks and laments the government’s failure to embrace public health and prevention in its first year in office. She is highly critical too of the decision to kick the social care can down the road and says the Fund is now exploring radically different ways it could be funded, incl...

EXCLUSIVE Sir Jim Mackey, Chief Executive NHS England in conversation with Niall Dickson & Roy Lilley ... in a frank interview Sir Jim talks about the difficulties he is facing and the fact taking on what he thought would be the job and how it's actually worked out, are two very different things! In this wide ranging conversation he accepts the pending redundancies are a cause for great concern and says that he does not anticipate any compulsory redundancies although the time sca...

In their latest venture In the Loop, Niall and Roy turn to mental health and conduct the first interview with Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s outgoing mental health director since she dramatically resigned earlier this month after nearly ten years on the job. In the podcast, Claire says she quit because she felt she no longer had political support and reveals her dismay at the failure of the new government to maintain the share of NHS spend on mental health. In a strong...

The latest podcast from Niall and Roy sees a somewhat different take on the current state of the NHS from Dame Jennifer Dixon, the longstanding and respected Chief Executive of the Health Foundation. Jennifer, who once practised in paediatrics before moving into public health, accuses the government of being disrespectful and menacing in its approach as it seeks to reform the service and argues that the system needs to use its principal asset which is human capital. She also quest...

In their latest podcast Niall and Roy have a fascinating exchange with Professor Lord Darzi, the eminent surgeon and former government minister whose independent investigation earlier this year laid bare an NHS that is failing at so many levels and which has lost public confidence. In the podcast, Ara Darzi reveals how shocked he was to find that staffing was not the issue, but that instead there had been a serious crash in productivity. Nor was funding the issue. He says money h...

In this episode of their Podcast In the Loop Niall and Roy step on to new ground in a fascinating discussion with Professor Tas Qureshi. a General and Gastro-intestinal Surgeon at Poole Hospital in Dorset. But Tas has another role – he has made a number of trips to Gaza as a volunteer, giving up his free time to support his fellow surgeons there as they deal with the most horrifying of trauma injuries, as well as helping to train staff in the treatment of cancer. This is a personal st...

In their latest podcast Niall and Roy invite Dr Penny Dash, the new chair of NHS England, to join them. Within weeks of her appointment the secretary of state announced that NHS England was for the chop and that he would subject the NHS to a major reorganisation. But Penny is unphased and says the current system is riddled with complexity and duplication and could not have survived, although she admits with the Department running everything we could well be back to the old challenges of too m...

In this latest podcast Niall and Roy talk to Dr Bill Kirkup CBE, who has headed some of the major enquiries into failing NHS services, including paediatric cardiac surgery in Oxford. Liverpool Community Services, and the high-profile investigations into maternity services at Morecambe Bay and East Kent Hospitals. In a frank discussion, Bill reveals that he does not believe enquiries have made things better or stopped the pattern of failure. He says that since his investigation into Morecambe...

In their latest podcast Niall Dickson and Roy Lilley are joined by former health secretary, foreign secretary, and chancellor, Sir Jeremy Hunt. In a fascinating insight, reflecting on his years in power, Sir Jeremy reveals how terrified he was to find himself responsible for the NHS knowing nothing much beyond his own constituency issues. Over time he says he learned how to work the system to secure more resources for the NHS from the Treasury. He says being Foreign Secr...

In this podcast on social care reform with Niall Dickson and Roy Lilley, Sir Andrew Dilnot, the former Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies pulls no punches when it comes to the missed opportunities of successive governments. As the author of the definitive 2014 report on social care reform, he shows his frustration and dismay at this government’s failure to tackle a crisis that is now leaving millions of vulnerable older people without the support they need, and at the sa...

What happens when a leading banker groomed in the disciplines and attitudes of the private sector finds himself in charge of the NHS in England? Surely he will be highly sceptical at least, suspicious and critical at best? But no - the story of Richard Meddings the outgoing NHS England Chair is of a Damascene conversion. In this podcast with Niall Dickson and Roy Lilley, Richard reveals himself as an arch defender of the NHS at every level including the achievements of th...