Sally Nugent has received much acclaim for her handling of an interview with Health Secretary Steve Barclay, with one viewer claiming that she ‘eviscerated’ him.
On Monday’s BBC Breakfast, the programme discussed how NHS England has “routinely failed” waiting time objectives in recent years.
It was recently revealed that the waiting list for hospital treatments in England reached more than 7.5 million people in June, with more than 383,000 people waiting for more than a year.
In addition, the number of NHS cancer waiting time objectives is likely to be decreased, with Health Minister Will Quince noting, ‘We are also making progress to deliver on our priority of cutting waiting lists and ensuring people get the care they need sooner.’
During an interview with Sally on BBC Breakfast, the Health Secretary was asked how dropping objectives can assist.
The BBC presenter also quoted Cancer Research UK, who claimed that ‘missed targets for cancer represent years of under-investment by the UK government’.
The journalist continued: ‘Now they’ve called for long-term funding and a clear strategy which currently isn’t there. How do you respond to that?’
The politician replied: ‘What really matters is patients waiting for treatment. Commitment to getting waiting times down. We’re making big progress on the longest waits. In England we’ve virtually eliminated waits of over 18 months, whereas in Wales for example, there’s over 70,000 waiting more than 18 months.
‘In fact, many of your listeners will be surprised to learn that there’s four times as many patients waiting over a year for treatment in Wales compared to in England, and that’s despite Keir Starmer saying that Wales is the blueprint for what we would do in England.’
However, as the politician was about to make his statement, Sally intervened, emphasising that the numbers comparing waiting times in England and Wales needed more context.
‘Can I just stop you there, because actually those… – can I please just stop you there for a moment, because the figures are actually collated in a different way, so that’s not particularly relevant. We also know that long waiting times are falling every month in Wales. They’ve actually more than halved in the last year,’ she stated.
However, the MP disagreed, adding: ‘No, people waiting more than 18 months in Wales is over 70,000 there. There’s over 30,000 waiting more than two years.’
Yet again, Sally pointed out the difference in the statistics’ relevance, telling the programme’s guest and their viewers: ‘They include more referrals in their statistics than England does, so they’re not really comparable figures, are they?’
Once again, the Health Secretary maintained his position, claiming that the data were similar and that the Welsh and Scottish governments had been pushed to provide “greater transparency” in their NHS figures so that they could be compared.
The video of Sally addressing the politician has gone viral on Twitter, with fans praising the BBC Breakfast anchor for “exposing” and “calling out” Steve Barclay.
Someone called the conversation a “metaphorical evisceration,” while another said Sally “skewered” him.
‘Sally Nugent @bbcbreakfast was on fire this morning,’ someone else remarked, while others said that she ‘totally owned’ and ‘destroyed’ the MP.
BBC Breakfast airs from 6am on BBC One.
