It is an uncomfortable fact for those who like to claim that the NHS is the envy of the world: Britain’s health outcomes are poor when compared with similar countries. A study by the Nuffield Trust in 2018 found that the NHS performs worse than the rich world average in the treatment of eight out of the 12 most common causes of death. It was the third poorest performer out of 18 developed countries on the overall rate at which people die when successful medical care could have saved them. It is hard to believe that the situation has much improved since then.

The diagnosis of cancer is one of its key deficiencies. A new study released this week found that more than a third of cases are diagnosed only when patients visit A&E, when it could already be too late. The central problem appears to be in primary care, with GPs failing to spot symptoms in time. The Telegraph letters page has been inundated with readers who have struggled to secure face-to-face GP appointments since the pandemic. But while the crisis may now be acute, the inadequacies of General Practice are not new.

The wisdom of maintaining GPs as “gatekeepers” for the rest of the health service is the sort of question that successive governments have shown little willingness to confront. Yet the experience of other nations suggests that allowing patients more direct access to diagnostic testing, one aspect of the polyclinics reform first proposed under Tony Blair, could drive down cancer deaths.

Political cowardice and institutional resistance to change too often kills off ideas such as this. But at some point, politicians will have to acknowledge that the status quo is no longer tenable. We cannot keep pouring money into a broken system.