Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to Simon Stevens’ speech on his first day as NHS Chief Executive, said:

“We wish Simon Stevens well, but people should be in no doubt about the scale of the challenge facing the NHS. The NHS has just been through its worst year for a decade in A&E and staff morale is at rock-bottom following a re-organisation no-one wanted. Turning things around will require strong leadership and an ability to stand up to political inference from David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt.

“Labour welcomes the new emphasis on integration but, if this is to be delivered, it will mean changing the Government’s policy on competition in the NHS which is holding it back. Simon Stevens’ predecessor spoke of an NHS “bogged down in a morass of competition law” and it must urgently be rescued from that.

“The Health and Social Care Act has placed the NHS on a fast-track to fragmentation. David Cameron’s re-organisation created more bureaucracy and left the NHS in a weakened financial state. It’s Simon Stevens’ job to make sense of what is currently a very confused picture.”