Many papers, including the Daily Telegraph, focus on the major report on the health service being published on Thursday. The review by Lord Darzi was commissioned by the new government and has found the NHS in England is in a “critical condition”. The Telegraph calls the report “damning”, saying it found NHS hospitals are doing less work for patients despite receiving more money than ever. A&E waits are now so long that a patient will typically have 100 people ahead of them in the queue – up from 40 in 2009, it adds.
The Guardian calls the report a “scathing indictment of the Conservatives’ 14-year stewardship of the NHS”. But it also carries a warning from the report’s author, Lord Darzi, who says it will take longer than five years to get treatment waiting times back on track – the promised timeframe that Labour gave before the election.
The Daily Mirror says the PM will unveil a 10-year plan to reform the service. Like most other papers, the Mirror also describes surgeon Lord Darzi’s report as “damning”. The review also exposes a “shocking deterioration in the nation’s health”, the paper adds.
The Daily Mail looks ahead to Sir Keir Starmer’s speech on the NHS later on Thursday, where he will say the NHS must “reform or die”. It says the PM has a plan to radically overhaul the health service, including by shifting billions of pounds of money from inefficient hospitals to community care. “But can he deliver?” the paper asks. It says the Tories have accused Health Secretary Wes Streeting – who commissioned the review – of laying the groundwork for tax rises at the Budget.
The Daily Express also focuses on Starmer’s warning that the NHS must “reform or die”. It says he’s expected to brand the decline of the health service as “unforgivable”, when he gives his speech later. “What we need is the courage to deliver long-term reform – major surgery not sticking plaster solutions” he will add.
The i newspaper says the reforms will mark the NHS’s biggest overhaul since its creation. The paper says weight loss drugs will likely “play a key role” – and there will also be more treatment in the community via nurses, GPs and pharmacists.
The Financial Times focuses on events across the pond, describing Donald Trump’s campaign as “reeling” following his “poor” performance at the first debate against presidential rival Kamala Harris. It says Republicans feel exasperated – and that they thought Trump was unprepared, outplayed and delivered an “erratic” message. One pollster tells the paper that Trump now has “no choice” but to seek another televised debate to “recover”. Trump previously told Fox News on Wednesday that he “did great”.
Trump also makes the front of the Daily Star, where he is pictured in a hospital gown alongside tech boss Elon Musk. The paper says they’ve both gone “madder than mad”, after Trump claimed illegal immigrants have been eating dogs. Mr Musk, meanwhile, is “not entirely sane” for offering to father a child for Taylor Swift, the paper says. Mr Musk’s remarks came after Swift endorsed Kamala Harris and signed off as “Childless Cat Lady” – a reference to comments by Trump’s running mate JD Vance.
The story of Oliver Campbell leads the Metro, after he was cleared of murder on Wednesday – 33 years after being convicted. Mr Campbell, who has learning difficulties, was “bullied and badgered” into confessing to the murder of Baldev Hoondle in east London in 1990, the paper says. Judges have now ruled his conviction was unsafe. Metro calls it one of Britain’s worst miscarriages of justice.
BBCRosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah said her daughter Ella "suffered greatly" before her deathA woman whose nine-year-old daughter became the first person in
