ORDINARY patients know that the NHS is not in the best of health. It often feels it is impossible to get an appointment to see your GP, and when you do, it is only a phone consultation; it looks like it is impossible to get into A&E with a string of ambulances queuing outside the door.

So it is good that the new Health Secretary, Therese Coffey, is plainly speaking about these concerns, although it is a measure of how bad things are that she says she is going to have a “laser-like focus on the needs of patients”. What have previous health securities and NHS managers been focussed on – anything but the needs of patients?

But beside a £500m pot to get patients out of hospital, Ms Coffey is not throwing much money at the backlog. Instead, she is setting more and more targets and she is publishing more and more league tables when really what the NHS, and social care, needs is more and more staff.

Yes, giving pharmacists a greater involvement and, yes, installing a new telephone system are sensible moves, but are they really likely to increase the NHS’ capacity on a scale that is needed when 3.9m are waiting more than two weeks to see a GP.

It is a long term fix, including why we do not recruit and train enough doctors and nurses of our own, that is needed, not more short term targets that will change when the next health secretary comes along and looks for something else to focus on.

The patient is sick, and these sticking plasters are not going to make it miraculously recover.