Lansley's health problems are starting to look terminal
Peter Hoskin 9:14am
The discontent with Andrew Lansley's health reforms has been rising since the New Year.
But, one or two threatening quotations aside, most of this has come from the government's natural
opponents: Labour and the unions. That changes today. Over at ConservativeHome, Tim Montgomerie has written a post calling for the
Health Bill to be dropped. It is, Tim says, ‘not just a distraction... but potentially fatal to the Conservative Party's electoral prospects.’ And he finishes: ‘It must be stopped
before it's too late.’
This would be striking enough by itself, but its impact is doubled by a single sentence: ‘Speaking to ConservativeHome, three Tory Cabinet ministers have now also rung the alarm bell.’ It's no surprise that some Tory ministers are unhappy with Lansley's Bill — but now that they are speaking out about it, that unhappiness is a good deal more signficant. When it was just Labour versus the coalition, it was much easier for David Cameron: he could typecast Ed Miliband as a roadblock to reform, and one that wouldn't lavish as much money on the NHS as the government plans to. But now that tack is near impossible. How long before more Tories and Lib Dems broadcast their dissent? And how can Cameron respond then?
There are still reasons for thinking that Cameron will stick by the Bill, among them the fact that he has already gone through the torture of that ‘pausing, listening, engaging’ exercise last year, and may not want to waste that effort. But, really, it's looking more and more likely that he will have to drop the Bill. The NHS was meant to be the bedrock on which the Cameroons' moderisation programme was founded, but their approach to it is now more self-harming than anything else. For all the reassurances about real terms spending increases, for all the posters, the Tories still lag Labour on the issue by 8 points, and that gap is likely to increase.
And as for Lansley, his fate is wrapped up, almost inextricably, with the Bill. If it goes, then he will find it difficult to stay. There are certainly some Tories who would prefer Stephen Dorrell in the role, enacting the sort of policy agenda that he has been advocating from the chair of the health select committee. If Cameron comes to agree with them, then we may soon hear a loud BANG from outside No.10.
Previous
telemachus'
February 10th, 2012 9:30am Report this commentThis disembodied Mekon has failed to appreciate that the reforms will have far-reaching negative outcomes for the most vulnerable in our society.They will
lead not only to fragmentation of care, but also to a ‘two tier’ system with access to care defined by a patient’s ability to pay
A London GP JT is quoted "If you want to know what a market in health-care would look like, just look at elderly care - or dentistry, where charges are rampant, the private sector rules the roost, and many people cannot find an NHS dentist." Over 80 per cent of residential care is now privatised and many care homes are run for private profit.
ie Sod the poor as I said Tuesday
We’re in danger of sleepwalking into a system like the one in the US, where people are left to die on the street if they don’t have health insurance.”
toco
February 10th, 2012 9:33am Report this commentTim Montgomerie and his boss Michael Ashcroft are simply wrong on the subject of health reforms and should stop being influenced by the trades unions and the Labour Party which used to support many of these reforms before Red Ed and his trades union masters took over the party.Tory grassroots opinion is firmly of the view changes are essential and indeed the public in general supports NHS reform.Montgomerie should think again but his boss Michael Ashcroft may forbid a retraction.Cameron will not be bullied by these two.
telemachus'
February 10th, 2012 9:48am Report this commentBy the by I see that Shining Path Montgomery does not dismiss his Path Two despite saying "Path two involves pressing on. It’s the path that, despite his rhetoric, Ed Miliband prays the Coalition will tread" Of course the Tories are sufficiently stupid to take Path Two.
Brian A
February 10th, 2012 9:50am Report this commentThe NHS will be a toxic issue for the Conservatives as long as the producer interests in the NHS and their cheerleaders in the Labour and Lib Dem parties continue to perpetuate successfully, the myth that the NHS is, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, a uniquely effective way of delivering healthcare. The only way for the Conservatives to make headway on this issue is to put patients at the centre of the debate and champion the interests of the consumers of healthcare over those who deliver it.
Deepsnoozer
February 10th, 2012 9:53am Report this commentDon't stop now! It's like having a ringside seat at the charge of the light brigade! Go Dave!!
Sid
February 10th, 2012 10:10am Report this commentSo if the current NHS changes are stopped or reversed, what is going to happen? The cuts and changes by both the last Labour government and this one means that many of the services and departments providing specialised health care in many trusts have disappeared into the ether. As a Tory whose wife works as a professional specialist in the NHS, the situation has gone too far just to stop and turn round now. The NHS is in chaos; even the non-Union employees know this. The Coalition never listened to the professionals that the top down reorganisation changes and cuts they were introducing could ruin the NHS and now it looks as if the NHS back has been broken.
There can be no plan B to go back to as the staff and professional health people who were there to help with plan B have been let go or moved on when their departments or posts were shut down in the NHS trusts. As a Tory I am ashamed to say that this Coalition leadership is ruining the NHS but the MP’s will not care because if they get kicked out of office, they can always pay to go to the US for health care if they need it whilst us mere mortals will suffer, as always.
Ian Walker
February 10th, 2012 10:40am Report this commentThe trade unions don't like it. The Labour party don't like it. The champagne socialists of the Guardian don't like it.
Ergo it is a good idea.
Christopher Pankhurst
February 10th, 2012 10:55am Report this commentThis bill is an absolute disaster. All international studies show that the NHS is the top performer in the most developed 27 countries in the world, and that the American privatised system is the bottom. It is utterly unbelievable that a British government should be seeking to drag the most efficient system in the world towards the least efficient. This bill must be stopped before it does terminal damage.
2trueblue
February 10th, 2012 10:56am Report this commentThe NHS will always raise emotional reactions and that is what Liebore are using to drive their agenda. Liebore left a massive debt and within the NHS left massive ongoing failures and a big hope in the guise of PFI projects which were badly organised with the public purse paying for their lack of talent and sheer ignorance in spending our money. So whats new there?
Cameron needs to sit on the project which is falling apart because it is so complex and list out the details of deals that Liebore had set up showing us where the money is going and what the true cost is. Most people are savy enough to grasp the figures and the sheer stupidity of the rates that were agreed. Then ask that smug Millipede and Burnham to explain the figures. Only a moran would agree to clauses allow such figures.
tom jones
February 10th, 2012 11:24am Report this commentThis bill will be Cameron's poll tax for years to come. He'll last longer than Thatcher did after the poll tax, but he won't win the next election. This bill is practically handing Labour or Labour & Lib Dems the next general election. "You can't trust the Tories on the NHS" and even though I'm supporting our reforms to education, welfare and loads of other great things we're doing - the NHS shouldn't be torn apart like it is being. Lansley should go, Cameron should admit this was a huge mistake and we should stop burying our heads in the sand and hoping everything turns out ok. It won't! Self-harm not only describes this bill, but it describes the government. I think I've agreed with almost every u-turn so far and I'd certainly agree with this one!
THOMAS KNIGHT
February 10th, 2012 11:41am Report this commentNo same person questions the need for NHS
reform.
Unfortunately Cameron has put far too much trust in Lansley to deliver. This trust - based as it seems to be on personal friendship - is sadly misplaced.
The first go at this was deeply unsatisfactory and you would think Cameron would have learned his lesson.
However, Lansley has subsequently come up with a the Bill which is the most ridiculous cludge of half-baked ideas seen in Parliament on any topic for a very long time.
Thumbs down for both and start again I think. Lansley should be put out of his misery.
Personal loyalty is actually one of Cameron's more endearing traits but it's let him down badly here. This is politics, not a dinner party.
TrevorsDen
February 10th, 2012 11:45am Report this commentooh dear me, is this tosspot Montgomerie someone of importance? What are his qualifications to know anything?
Govt policy - any govts policy - is to be decided by some bar-stewarsd running a website.
And his motives for dissecting policy? Appearances! And appearances dictated by people he professes to be politically opposed to.
Slim Jim
February 10th, 2012 12:09pm Report this commentThis whole episode has been an example of poor communication. Add to the mix the siren voices of the vested interests in the NHS and the left shouting the government down. The poor old patient is left wondering what the heck is going on (and from my own personal experiences, the patient is way down the list of priorities in the NHS). The NHS needs to be reformed for a variety of reasons; most of which have not been articulated clearly. Alongside Welfare, the NHS is basically a black hole that needs constant feeding, and with an aging population, it is going to have to take some very difficult decisions. Frankly, it seems to me that when the political class start tinkering with something, they bloody well end up breaking it. That is what needs to be addressed, if not by Lansley, then someone with the skills to carry it off. Are you still not convinced about NHS reform? Just look at the rantings of Telemachus...By the way, what exactly are the Left proposing for the NHS? Just thought I'd ask.
Hugh
February 10th, 2012 12:32pm Report this commentIan Walker, I agree, when things are two complicated to understand I also fall back on the truism - "by thine enemies thou shalt be known."
On the other side though Lansley spent a great deal of time analysing this area, and should be supported. This was coalition policy before Clegg got cold feet.
Sean Haffey
February 10th, 2012 12:33pm Report this commentChristopher Pankhurst
a. Can you list ALL international studies?
b. Can you point to where they draw the conclusions you state?
James Burrow
February 10th, 2012 2:51pm Report this commentI am sick of hearing some Tories here, worrying about future electability. That is NOT first and foremost the question. The question that should be uppermost is : are the reforms needded and right. I am a Tory because we don't shy away from the tough decision if we believe they are right. It's called Principle.
Barbara
February 10th, 2012 3:51pm Report this commentThe man is speaking the truth, the Conservatives will suffer if they continue with this bill, in fact it will effect voting for them. Many Conservatives fail to see beyond their desire to destroy the NHS and make everyone pay for health provision; there are many who cannot afford to pay. They are struggling to live let alone have the worry of paying for health care. That's the reality, and this man knows it.
There could have been changes made within the NHS without having a new bill, but they failed to do that. Instead they are bent on making a new bill that does intentionally destroy many things we know within the NHS. The thing is the people of this country see change is needed, but not on the scale proposed by Lansley. Again, if we can pay 15 billion + for foreign aid, plus, 55 million for foreign tourists who don't pay, there's more than enough money to fund a national health service.
Paddy
February 10th, 2012 4:16pm Report this commentLabour and their union paymasters will do anything to stop this Bill....and they think they are winning.
Lansley needs supporting.
I agree the Tories should learn to play smart. The Labour party pushed through sections of this Bill without it going through Parliament. No one was any the wiser.
Stop carping. Get behind the Government and support the Bill. By God it needs it.
WIlliam Blakes Ghost
February 10th, 2012 6:25pm Report this commentThe irony is that it is Dorrell's brainchild to reform the NHS. It was his group who recommended the creation of the NHS Board back in 2007. So how would Dorrell make a difference?
This sounds like self-serving political opportunism on the behalf of certain Tories.
Anne Wotana Kaye 1
February 11th, 2012 1:55pm Report this commentListening to Dimbleby's "Any Questions" I am as usual amazed at the foolish ignorance of so many of the audience. Are they especially picked for their passive nature? They clap with the ame vigour whoever is speaking even if in direct opposition to what has just been aid. NHS. Why do o many think it is free? It has been paid for, and is being paid for by citizens' contributions. True, many who use it have never paid and never will, and those who have paid most go privately.
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