Stalled Progress and Flawed Reforms Plague UK Health System

A powerful cross-party committee of British Members of Parliament has declared that progress in cutting patient waiting times in the National Health Service (NHS) has stalled, despite billions of pounds in investment. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), in a scathing report published on Wednesday, 19 November 2025, warned that key recovery targets set for March 2025 have been missed by “significant margins,” leaving too many people waiting too long for tests and treatment. The findings cast serious doubt on the UK government's central promise to repair the health service and have direct implications for Kenya, a key source of medical staff for the struggling British system.

According to the PAC report, the total elective care waiting list in England stands at approximately 7.4 million. The committee found that only 59% of patients were treated within the statutory 18-week standard, against a target of 92%. Furthermore, for diagnostic tests, 22% of patients were waiting longer than six weeks, far exceeding the 5% target. The report criticised the government's approach as “deeply flawed,” stating that billions were approved without sufficient focus on patient outcomes and likened a major, unplanned reorganisation to the “poor practices seen on the HS2” rail project.

The verdict contrasts sharply with recent statements from UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who just last week insisted the “NHS is on the road to recovery,” citing falling overall waiting lists compared to their peak. However, the PAC report provides a sobering analysis, suggesting systemic issues that funding alone has failed to resolve.

The Kenyan Connection: A Critical Workforce Pipeline Under Strain

The crisis within the NHS is not a distant problem for Kenya. It is a critical factor accelerating the migration of Kenyan healthcare professionals, a phenomenon often termed 'brain drain'. The NHS is a major destination for Kenyan medics, with official figures from 2021 noting 894 Kenyans working across all roles, making them the 30th largest foreign nationality group in the service. However, this figure only captures part of a much larger trend. According to a 2023 report from Kenya's Ministry of Health, as many as 64.4% of health professionals have expressed a desire to leave the country for better opportunities abroad. Former union officials estimate that around 4,000 doctors and nurses leave Kenya annually.

This exodus is facilitated by formal agreements. In July 2021, Kenya and the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Health Workforce Collaboration. The deal was intended to provide a managed framework for unemployed Kenyan health workers to work in the UK, gain experience, and potentially return with enhanced skills. While presented as a mutually beneficial arrangement, it also formalises a pathway that contributes to significant workforce shortages in Kenyan hospitals, particularly in specialised fields and rural counties.

The persistent pressure on the NHS to fill its own staffing gaps—which stand at a vacancy rate of 6.9% as of June 2025—ensures that international recruitment from countries like Kenya remains aggressive. This creates a direct tension with Kenya's own healthcare goals under the new Social Health Authority (SHA), which requires a robust and stable workforce to achieve universal health coverage.

A Tale of Two Health Systems: Shared Challenges, Divergent Realities

The struggles of the NHS, a mature, taxpayer-funded system established over 75 years ago, offer a cautionary tale for Kenya's evolving healthcare landscape. The PAC report's focus on inefficient spending, missed targets, and the disruptive effect of unplanned reforms highlights universal challenges in public health management. For Kenya, which has lost an estimated US$95 million in training costs for doctors alone due to migration, the stakes are immense. The investment in educating medical professionals often benefits wealthier nations rather than the local system it was intended to strengthen.

While the UK grapples with optimising a vast, established service, Kenya is focused on building foundational capacity, expanding access, and ensuring sustainable financing for the SHA. The UK's reliance on international staff to plug its own deficiencies demonstrates a global health inequality, where the workforce of lower-income nations becomes a critical subsidy for the health systems of the global north.

Ultimately, the performance of the UK's NHS is intrinsically linked to the health of Kenya's medical sector. As the UK government faces intense scrutiny over its failure to meet its healthcare promises, the ripple effects will be felt in Kenyan clinics and hospitals, where the departure of skilled professionals remains one of the most significant barriers to providing quality care for all citizens. The situation demands a nuanced policy response that balances the opportunities of international collaboration with the urgent need to retain and support Kenya's own medical talent.