Zero: Eliminating unnecessary deaths in a post-pandemic NHS

by Jeremy Hunt

'A thoughtful, serious and well-written book that tackles an immensely important subject' - Observer

How many avoidable deaths are there in the NHS every week?

150.

What figure should we aim for?

Zero.

The NHS is the pride of Britain. It's an army of highly skilled and talented healthcare professionals, armed with the most cutting-edge therapies and medicines, and a budget bigger than the GDP of most countries in the world.

Yet avoidable failures are common. And the result is tragic deaths up and down the country every day.

Jeremy Hunt, the longest-serving Health Secretary in history, knows exactly what the cost is. In the letters he received from bereaved family members, he was constantly confronted by the heart-breaking reality of slip-ups and mistakes.

There is increasing conflict between public pride in the NHS and the exhausted daily reality for many doctors and nurses, now experiencing burnout in record numbers. Waiting lists are up, staffing numbers inadequate, and all the while an ageing population and medical advances increase both demand and expectations. With pressures like these, is it surprising that mistakes start to creep in?

This great British institution is crying out for renewal. In Zero, taking the broadest approach, thinking through everything from staffing to technology, budgets to culture, Hunt presents a manifesto for that renewal.

Mistakes happen. But nobody deserves to become a statistic in an NHS hospital. That's why we need to aim for zero.

311 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 24, 2022

Reviews

[Guy Mankowski · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's a real lack of insight in this book. Hunt has obviously been too sheltered and overly encouraged in his life as he is unable to sustain any kind of reflection that would be taxing in any way to him. This kind of sustained and difficult self reflection is essential as there is no getting round the fact he is very unpopular in the country, one reason his leadership ambitions always fall aground. People have not forgotten his intransigence that caused the junior doctors strike. Or his refusal to engage with doctors- I recall Eamonn Holmes pulling him up on not replying to people on live TV, something Hunt dismissed. Here, he skips over his own reactions that caused this strike as if they were unavoidable and adops a shallow and brief reflective tone to dismiss his own contributions to such difficulties which exacerbated a fraught situation for us pre pandemic. It now seems absurd that a man used The Weekend Effect to demand more of doctors, running them down pre pandemic. He also abolished the nurses bursaries. But even when doctors like Rachel Clarke tried to talk through with him how to handle things differently, and engage with key stakeholders even in this book having had time to reflect Hunt just muses 'I'm not sure it would have been that easy.' A man who caused much destruction indulges in some weak self reflection in the hope of laundering his reputation, perhaps easing his conscience as well, ahead of his next leadership bid. The book has no new insights elsewhere. Hunt needs to learn that other people know this subject more than him. He went into the role of Health Secretary with excess confidence given his background was in making money. He's not got any more reflective, despite what the blurb might say. A missed opportunity for a sustained reflection from a man who really does need to reflect on the consequences of choices he made.

[Pro Mukherjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a former consultant in the NHS when Mr Hunt was Health Secretary, I found this book helped me understand the thinking behind the disruptive (and often demoralising) top down changes imposed on us.

A deeper insight for me was how the adversarial parliamentary system in the UK (and many other countries) unintentionally nourishes an adversarial stance between health care providers and politicians. A barrier that can be dissolved only by deeper more engaged meaningful communication- as Mr Hunt seems to appreciate.

There are lessons in this book for “both” sides - clinicians and health managers (right up to the level of Health Secretaries). Neither side can do it alone - and patients all over the world are depending on us to heal our differences, transform past suffering and come together.