Jokey reform ideas removed from NHS website

Some members of the public have not taken Health Secretary Wes Streeting's call for new ideas to improve the health service as seriously as he might have hoped.

Suggested ideas for NHS reform included putting beer on tap in hospitals, and placing Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta in charge.

The health department told the BBC officials were reviewing posts, and were removing or hiding material that was "clearly inappropriate or irrelevant".

Ministers launched an online "national conversation" earlier, to inform a new 10-year plan to improve health services.

In a social media post, Mr Streeting sought to laugh off some of the more irreverent suggestions.

Writing on X, he quipped that a recommendation for a Wetherspoons pub in every hospital had been "sadly vetoed by the chancellor".

He also rejected a call for him to be fired out of a cannon in a bid to raise funds for the service.

The health department has promised that the listening exercise will "help shape" its new NHS strategy, to be published in spring next year.

But some of the suggestions are less likely to be taken seriously than others.

Ideas that appear to have disappeared from the consultation website include putting lager Madrí on tap in all hospitals to "help patient morale", and replacing Streeting as health secretary with a dog.

However suggestions to replace ambulance sirens with healthy eating advice, and install Thunderbird 2-style detachable patient compartments in ambulances, appear to still be online.

By late afternoon, the suggestions ranked most popular by users on the site included limits on sending out paper letters, and making it easier for GP surgeries to access digital records from hospitals.

Other highly-ranked ideas include making it easier for non-British nationals to pay for treatment, and fines for missed appointments, an idea suggested and then dropped by former prime minister Rishi Sunak.

The health department has not confirmed which posts it is removing, but a spokesperson said "clearly inappropriate or irrelevant" material was being removed or hidden by the moderation team.

Ideas suggested by ministers at the launch of the consultation include making full medical records, tests results and letters from doctors available in the NHS App.

Currently the NHS App is limited because patients records are held locally by a patient's GP and any hospitals they visit - and not all parts of the health service interact with the app.

It is not the first time ministers have attempted to engage the public directly in matters of state.

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition asked the public for suggested laws to abolish, and ran a Treasury-led public consultation on ideas to save money.

The most famous example of a listening exercise, however, remains the 2016 poll which saw the public vote to name a new polar research ship "Boaty McBoatface".

The name, suggested by former BBC Radio Jersey presenter James Hand, achieved viral fame and became the runaway winner in a contest run by the Natural Environment Research Council.

In a blow to online democracy, the ship was later named after broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, although one of its remotely operated sub-sea vehicles was named "Boaty" in recognition of the vote.