NHS Reform – Dream on….

I had a lovely dream last night. Andrew Lansley, UK Secretary of State for health

stood up in the House of Commons and said that he took full responsibility for the ‘debacle’.

‘We got this one wrong’, he said, head held low. ‘In this case, we got it wrong, we listened and we are going to take a fresh approach’. David Cameron had stated just 24 hours earlier that he was not happy with the policy either.

And then I woke up…

Yes the script was right, the U turn genuine. But it was the UK Secretary of State for the environment, Caroline Pelham who had back-tracked on a piece of deeply unpopular legislation to sell off the Nation’s woodland. So in the UK, we can rest assured that our trees and public spaces are protected for the population. Not so our NHS.

Alas, away from dreamworld, Andrew Lansley has not listened, will not admit that he is getting it wrong. He seems to be suffering from selective deafness when it comes to learned opinion such as the British Medical Association, Royal College of Nursing, and an independent think tank, the Kings Fund.

Alas again,  no U turn is in sight as GPs consider retirement or brace themselves for a huge administrative burden. Lansley continues to forge forward, foot on the gas, slicing through the NHS infrastructure like a straight Roman road through the green hills and valleys of our landscape.

I think I might go back to sleep – it was such a lovely dream……