NHS England has today introduced Jess’s Rule, asking doctors to take a ‘three strikes and rethink approach’. The rule is named for Jessica Brady, who died in 2020 aged 27, having had more than 20 appointments with her GP surgery in the six months before her death. Mostly seen virtually – a fact attributed to Covid – she eventually went private. There, her terminal cancer was belatedly diagnosed. She died three weeks later.

Discussions about Jess’s Rule began under the Conservatives and have come to fruition under Labour. Both parties have shown an unshakeable commitment to taking a serious problem, highlighted by a tragic death, and turning it into performative bureaucracy which won’t fix the problem it pretends to honour.

Jess’s Rule isn’t even a rule – it’s guidance. GPs are being aske

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