Roger Daltrey says ‘my generation’ to blame for NHS crisis as he steps down from Teenage Cancer Trust

The Who star Roger Daltrey has called on the NHS to cut the salaries of its top executives, as he hit out at the state of the public-funded health service and said his generation is to blame for the crisis.

Daltrey’s remarks come as he announces his plan to step down as concert curator for the Teenage Cancer Trust, after helping raise more than £32m over the past 23 years.

The rock singer, who famously sang “I hope I die before I get old”, also complained of the “old farts” getting in the way of younger patients needing treatment.

“I’m in the way,” the 79-year-old said in an interview with The Times. “All us old farts, we really are just in the way of the young now, aren’t we?”

Speaking at a cancer ward at Southampton General Hospital, Daltrey questioned why NHS executives needed “£400,000 or £500,000 a year of public money”.

“More than 50 per cent of the NHS budget isn’t spent here on wards,” he said. “I’ll tell you how to pay the nurses more: cut down on executive pay.”

He continued: “That’s my opinion. I’ll get slaughtered for saying it, but you’ve got to be tough. They [the political parties] make the NHS this political football in elections. They’re using us and it needs to stop.”

Daltrey, who lost his own sister to cancer when she was 32, appeared more concerned with the young people on the hospital ward than his own health.

“For f***’s sake,” he said after learning about a young cancer patient who had to get a private scan to be diagnosed with stage 4 Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of blood cancer.

“That poor young woman couldn’t get a scan? F***ing hell. That’s our wonderful NHS for you. And like I said, it’s partly because all these old farts like me are in the way, isn’t it? Let’s just die! Get me and my lot out the way. It’s crazy.”

Meanwhile, he called Dame Esther Rantzen “incredibly brave” for her frank discussions about assisted dying. Rantzen, 83, has stage 4 lung cancer and has joined the assisted dying organisation Dignitas.

In December, she said she would give the country a free vote on assisted dying were she prime minister for a day.

“Almost everyone when asked says yes, people should be given the choice,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

While confirming that he is not ill, the “Pinball Wizard” singer said he would consider assisted dying if he became a “burden”.

“A good friend of mine, a lovely woodsman called Tom, he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer,” he said. “If I had stage 4 pancreatic cancer I wouldn’t have chemo. I’d take the morphine and go down.”

“My dreams came true so, listen, I’m ready to go at any time,” he continued. “My family are all great and all taken care of. You’ve got to be realistic. You can’t live your life for ever. Like I said, people my age, we’re in the way. There are no guitar strings to be changed on this old instrument.”

Daltrey was treated for a pre-cancerous throat condition in 2010, which resulted in the unusual side-effect that he became allergic to cannabis.

“Since I’ve had that, I’m totally allergic to it,” he told The Independent in 2022. “Immediately my voice goes all wobbly. It’s really weird. I hate it.”

He announced his decision to step down from his role at the Teenage Cancer Trust earlier this week, having directed every show since The Who started the concert series in 2000.

His final series of concerts will be held at the Royal Albert Hall this year, with a lineup including Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and The Chemical Brothers.

Kate Collins, chief executive of TCT, said in a statement: “Quite simply, we would not be the charity we are without Roger and these shows and – more importantly than that – thousands of young people with cancer in the UK would not have had the specialist support and care they urgently need.

“These concerts have raised over £32 million for specialist hospital wards, nurses and youth workers – ensuring young people in the UK do not face cancer alone – however we urgently need to continue to raise funds to continue our work.

“Roger’s tireless drive has helped Teenage Cancer Trust change the lives of young people with cancer on a scale that was unimaginable at the first show in 2000.”