A Sad Day

We all know that politics is the art of the possible but how do you know what is possible until you push the boundaries. Sadly Cameron has decided to give in to the vested interests of the health workers and the prejudices of the mob. He should instead have taken the high ground and done everything in his power to educate the mob and demonstrated with well made examples just how the NHS could be improved if the taxpayer/consumer is put in charge. The Clinical Senates he is now to introduce could make sense if they were elected bodies with health workers only having an advisory role but health workers alone are to become members of these Senates and by appointment only. If I understand what is proposed correctly, these Senates will be answerable to something called the NHS Commissioning Board (another body to which members will be appointed, not elected) which in turn will be answerable to the Secretary of State. This is a cumbersome and I would suggest an unworkable hierarchical structure. It will of course increase the cost of running the NHS which is to remain the same bureaucratic, expensive, empire building nightmare it has always been with only those working in it benefiting. Without openness, accountability and competition the NHS will ultimately atrophy and die. What a waste. What a missed opportunity. What a defeat for the Government at the hands of the luddites and the left. The Government is introducing elections for Police Commissioners and it should follow its own logic and introduce elections for the bosses of each NHS trust.