James Connell’s feature on Page 9 of today’s Worcester News sheds light on the stark situation facing the NHS in Worcestershire.

A growing elderly population, spiralling costs of treatment and increasing demand for so-called lifestyle drugs are placing huge stresses on an organisation that is struggling to close a £60 million gap in its finances.

The new Lib Dem-Conservative government wants to make savings by taking an axe to the sprawling bureaucracy of the NHS. It is also sceptical about the efficacy of the targets culture that has developed during Labour rule.

Both are worthy of attention, but government ministers and health chiefs locally have a challenge on their hands in pushing through the sort of efficient ways of working that have been established in the private sector for years.

Only last week NHS Worcestershire chief executive Paul Bates was lamenting the strength of resistance to calls to scale back the “staggering” number of meetings that health staff are asked to attend.

However, contrary to the beliefs of whingeing Tory MEP Daniel Hannan, who complained about the NHS on American TV, we believe that Britain has a first-rate health service that is constantly trying to improve on the care it gives its patients. Its doctors, nurses and support staff are second to none. But cultures within the NHS are going to have to change if savings are to be made without compromising patient care.

The private sector has already come to terms with the harsh realities of life we will face over the next few years. It is time the public sector did too.