Underfunded but ‘fabulously well organised’: a hospital trust chief on the NHS

University College London's Marcel Levi talks openly about what he loves and loathes about the health service

A service so underfunded that hospital roofs leak, is worryingly reliant on overseas staff and with an insular" culture that repels fresh ideas - but which has also performed superbly to save lives during the Covid pandemic. After four years running one of Britain's biggest hospitals Prof Marcel Levi has some strong views on the NHS and the government's stewardship of the nation's most venerated institution.

Levi feels able to speak candidly because he is about to step down as the chief executive of University College London Hospitals trust and return to his homeland in the Netherlands to become its chief scientific officer so no longer fears upsetting NHS bosses. His views offer a counterpoint to the relentless positivity of the government's airy promises to hire 50,000 more nurses and 6,000 more GPs, build 40 new hospitals and put in record funding.