A change for the better in the NHS

Amidst all the fury over student fees, a far more radical government policy proposal is going ahead with almost no scrutiny and very little discussion. Britain’s 152 Primary Care Trusts, which hand out money to GPs and pay for patients to go on to hospitals, are to be replaced by groups of doctors.


A whole layer of NHS bureaucracy, responsible for spending £80billion of taxpayers’ money a year, will go.

In principle, it’s hard to argue with the logic behind Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s proposals. Under Labour, Britain doubled NHS spending but much of it was wasted on bureaucracy.

So Mr Lansley’s determination to abolish an entire stratum of managers and hand more power to GPs who are better placed to understand patients’ needs is to be welcomed.

And he should also be congratulated for his determination to stamp out mixed sex wards, a cause for which this newspaper has campaigned for many years.

Although it’s all too easy to be negative, it would be irresponsible not to point out the risks.

First, the Health Service has been through countless reorganisations in recent years, each eroding the confidence and goodwill of staff and patients

This latest change will also take place while the NHS is being asked to find efficiency savings of £20billion a year.

More pertinently, will every doctor be as good at administration as they are at diagnosis? Or will they hire all the bureaucrats who have been sacked by the PCTs to do the job for them?

But all that said, the NHS — impressive though it is — needs to become more efficient and responsive to the needs of patients. So we wish Mr Lansley well.