Politicians who oppose NHS closures 'secretly support them' Politicians from all parties had told him similar things, said Mr Farrar, who declined to name names. In what he described as a New Year's message as the NHS turns 65, Mr Farrar said: "Fundamental change is necessary to make our health service fit for the future." People were often "fearful of change" because the NHS had failed to involve them in the debate about changing the way care is delivered. Frequently the debate was dominated by those seeking to avert closures, without the NHS fully explaining that centralising some services like paediatrics to make fewer, larger wards could improve care. "For example, we have already seen hundreds of lives saved as a result of changes to stroke services in London which have established round the clock specialist teams to treat patients in fewer locations," said Mr Farrar. On the one hand, politicians were voting to essentially cap the NHS budget, but on the other they were resisting change that would enable it to make the best use of public money, he said. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Farrar said: "Where clinicians are very clear that we will save lives or we can get a better range of services because we can spend the money more efficiently, I think politicians should support that. tgft The alternative is to put more money into the NHS, but they know the economy isn't able to support that. Unless either more money was pumped in, or substantial changes were made to services, he argued two deep-seated problems would continue to "balloon." Firstly, NHS trusts could "continue to provide health services that they can't afford," leading to an increasing number experiencing serious financial problems. Secondly, services would have to be cut to save money.