Lord Crisp initiated a debate last night on “patient and citizen empowerment” in the NHS, a topic calculated to generate justifiable sighs of despair from patients. He confessed that as NHS chief executive for some years he said that patient empowerment was a top priority but in reality, not a great deal has happened in…
The end of a Parliamentary session is always a slightly fraught time as the Government of the day seeks to wrap up proceedings on the Bills in progress. So late night sitting, fierce debates and short tempers are the order of the day. This year has been no exception. An issue with which I have…
My good friend Baroness Murphy observes that just because you are mad it doesn’t mean you are necessarily wrong! (See her post below) My evidence for the Health and Social Care Bill being a mad policy choice is that everyone including the Government will suffer for bringing in a Bill that was quite unnescessary. For those…
This Bill finally completed its weary journey through the House of Lords yesterday. I am still trying to work out whether the Government was mad or bad in pushing it through. It is bad because it will increase bureaucracy and costs without improving front line services. It is mad because the Government has alienated the very…
The Constitution Committee has published a report on the Health and Social Care Bill. The remit of the committee is confined to the constitutional implications of the Bill and we are concerned that the Bill, in its current form, risks diluting the Government’s constitutional responsibilities with regard to the NHS. You can read the report…
