Comment Central - Times Online - WBLG

What the Tories should learn from Gordon Brown's U-turn

Nick Robinson reports something that has been hinted at for a while now - Gordon Brown has dropped his mad, bad idea of an independent NHS Board.

This prompts two thoughts.

First, Gordon Brown's reputation as an incubator of solid and deep policy ideas is massively overblown. That this idea was a silly one was obvious from the get-go, yet for quite a while he allowed it to be seen as his flagship new idea.

Now that he has dumped it, what is he left with? Not much on the NHS if Nick Robinson's list is anything to go by.

My second thought is that it is interesting how little impact on Brown's reputation this incident has had. Consider the fuss made about the much smaller mix-up in Tory grammar school plans. It is much easier to be inconsistent in office than in Opposition.

That is something the Tories now need to take note of. Brown may have backed off the silly NHS independence plan (my explanation of its silliness is here) but the Conservative Party still favours it. I don't think the policy will survive a great deal of scrutiny.

And if they are forced to dump it, they should not expect the same muted reaction that greeted Mr Brown's U-turn.

Can Gerry Robinson fix the NHS?

You can't name a programme that and then say "Er, no".

You can imagine the programme proposal, can't you?  You can imagine the memo to the commissioning editor saying: "We hope that Mr Robinson will find some ways to make the NHS better. It is quite likely, unfortunately, that he will be unable to do so. But  will you give us a big budget to make the programme, just in case we find that he can."

So it was always inevitable that the programme would be edited to make it appear as if Mr Robinson had found some sort of way forward.

Chris Dillow suggests that the solution they proposed resulted from the BBC's "managerialist ideology". I think it arose from a journalistic requirement to find some solution.  There they were, sitting in a circle and someone said: "Mmmm, let me think, let me think. I know!  What if the problem Gerry found was that they needed more people like Gerry? Yes that's it. Brilliant."

I agree, however, with Chris, about the real problem - structure and incentives. How can a nationalised industry with no competition, no prices and no consumers possibly work efficiently?

Conservatives should back off Brown on NHS cuts

The warning by the IPPR that 1,000 unnecessary deaths could result from failing to close A&E units created headlines. How rare that is - headlines outlining the costs of not acting.

Haven't the Conservative Party put themselves in a difficult position? They blame the changes (perhaps not in the small print but that the effect of their campaign) on non-existent Brown cuts. So the can hardly support change even where it is necessary.

Now this campaign might seem like a good idea. In office it will prove to have been a disaster.

(Hat tip to conservatives.com for picture)

Compute this

It's difficult to know where you should start.

NHS 23 is a fascinating and horrifying site. It provides an account of the repeated warnings given to Parliament by 23 of the UK's most respected IT academics about the multi-billion pound NHS computer project. They basically warned from the beginning that a fiasco loomed.

Take this:

As experts in complex systems, we are concerned that the NHS National Program for IT (NPfIT) is starting to show many of the symptoms displayed by large IT and business change projects that have failed in the past. We have a wide range of IT backgrounds and experience, and have studied many failed projects, as well as many that succeeded. Our professional opinion is that a constructive, independent review is urgently needed.

It was written to the Commons' Health Committee in May 2004. Last week, they had to send the same letter again.

Anyway, you can pretty much stop anywhere on the site and read about an unfolding multi-billion pound scandal.