A scandal that reveals the NHS at its worst In his search for something to define the nation in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, Danny Boyle chose the NHS. Yet the image he conjured up of crisply uniformed nurses tending to grateful patients was a world - and two generations - away from the reality exposed in yesterday's report on Stafford Hospital. Hundreds of people died because of a lack of care in the very place where they expected to be looked after. In the Commons, David Cameron described the failings as "truly dreadful" - but we have known that since they were first revealed several years ago. The latest inquiry, chaired by Robert Francis QC, was supposed to draw wider lessons from the scandal; yet the response from politicians has been worryingly short-sighted. The starting point for any discussion of the NHS is to describe it as the envy of the world; indeed, the Prime Minister felt obliged to issue the mandatory encomium at the start of his Commons statement yesterday, saying he "loved" the NHS. He also praised the myriad examples of excellent care, and the efforts of many brilliant doctors and nurses. But that is what we are entitled to expect from the NHS: it is not a national treasure, but a public service that we pay for. Sadly, the Left has ensured, over the years, that anyone who questions its totemic nature does so at their peril. Characteristically, the official response to Stafford has focused on improving procedures for dealing with failure. There is to be a new post of chief inspector of hospitals; staff who fail to meet basic standards of care will face prosecution; hospital workers will have a duty to expose shortcomings; and there will be "zero tolerance" of poor performance. Most people will be shocked that such basics are not in place already or that no one was disciplined for the scandal at Stafford. Nor is this an isolated case: five more hospitals where death rates have been far higher than they should be are now to be investigated. Politicians must be prepared to address the essential problem - that the health service is an unwieldy, state-run monopoly that has clung unshakeably to its founding principle of free treatment at the point of use, funded by direct taxation. In 1948, it was assumed that demand for care would diminish as the nation's health improved. In fact, more people now live to an age where they contract diseases that are expensive to treat and expect procedures that are costly to provide. It is doubtful that the radical changes now required can be implemented within the current system. We need less sentimentality of the sort on show last summer and a more realistic debate about the future of the NHS.