Not even Andrew Lansley. Not really. His original vision of the
Health Secretary being released from day-to-day responsibility for
the NHS, GPs in control as competition let rip – that's all gone.
In its place rests a piece of legislation amended some 2,000 times,
expanded to more than 450 pages, so complex and multifarious that
even Heath Robinson might struggle to unpick its component parts.
"This is not even what Lansley set out to do," admits a ministerial
friend, wearily.
The Bill will take another kicking in the House of Lords
tomorrow when government insiders expect to suffer up to a dozen
defeats, though none of them fatal.
And yet still David Cameron insists it must go on. Despite three
members of his own Cabinet briefing against it – and Mr Lansley –
the Prime Minister will this week make another attempt at selling a
cure to a public unconvinced that the patient is really ill. Expect
a sleeves-rolled-up visit to a hospital. But don't expect him to
wash his hands of a project which, rightly or wrongly, could cost
him the next election.
Almost two years in the making, the once eye-catching plan to
take the axe to the NHS's bloated bureaucracy and hand power to
family doctors has become a metaphor for Mr Cameron's worst
failings as Prime Minister – lack of attention to detail, a
hands-off management style, misplaced loyalty to old friends and a
deep-rooted belief that shouting at the Despatch Box will silence
one's critics.
One exasperated government strategist resorted to quoting
Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mouthed spin doctor from The Thick of It,
to sum up how bad things have become: "It is a fucking
omnishambles." At one stage during one of the many moments of
paranoid crises that have gripped the reforms, civil servants were
ordered not to commit anything to paper to prevent embarrassing
leaks.
It has been another terrible week for the Health Secretary.
Friends described Rachel Sylvester's column in The Times (saying he
should be "taken out and shot") as a "depth-charge bomb". The
ConservativeHome report on three cabinet ministers voicing doubts
about the Bill was likened to "lobbing in a hand grenade".
Downing Street stresses that no senior minister has raised
concern with the Prime Minister, who remains "totally committed" to
the reforms which he believes have broader support "in the country"
than media reports suggest. "The status quo is not an option," said
a close aide.
Mr Cameron remains fiercely loyal to Mr Lansley, who was his
boss in the 1990s when the future prime minister worked in the
Conservative research department. As with Andy Coulson, his
disgraced former spin doctor, there is a sense that the Prime
Minister is willing to stand by a friend long after their continued
presence has caused him damage politically.
In a meeting on Monday, Mr Cameron banged the table and told Mr
Lansley: "We've not shed blood on these proposals not to go through
with them... Let's really get out there and work to sell them." The
problem is that every attempt to explain the reforms soon drifts
into either generalisations ("efficiencies, choice, competition"),
platitudes ("giving power to doctors and nurses") or jargon
("clinician-led commissioning").
There has also been the lack of consistency; where once
ministers boasted of having the professional bodies signed up and
on board, they now claim angry and almost universal opposition is
an inevitable outcome of radical reform. What was once hailed as
the biggest change in the NHS for 60 years is now being represented
as a logical, small-scale continuation of Blairite reforms. In July
2010, Mr Lansley boldly declared that "people voted for change" –
which doesn't sit well with his pre-election promise of no more
top-down reorganisations.
The Government's favoured option now is that the Bill is further
amended in the Lords and limps on to the statute book just as the
next Queen's Speech is unveiled in May. One senior government
source described the constitutional progress of the Bill: "Everyone
expects the Bill will go through the House of Lords, and then the
House of Commons. It will receive Royal Assent from the Queen. And
then there will be a reshuffle and Lansley will be told to fuck
off."
In a sign of the fiasco at the heart of the Government, it is
now the Liberal Democrats who speak most warmly about the
legislation, having rewritten large passages in a coup led by
Baroness Williams. The Lib Dems are furious after working hard
behind the scenes to be constructive. "The Tories are flip-flopping
all over the place," says one. "Cameron is panicking about local
elections in May," says another, adding pointedly: "It is very much
their Bill."
Andy Burnham, the shadow Health Secretary, is preparing to table
amendments to the Bill which would delay the increased
marketisation of the NHS – the most controversial section – until
2016. "People haven't voted for this sort of NHS," he told The
Independent on Sunday. "David Cameron does not have a mandate and
it is essential that a general election intervenes before these
game-changing elements are put into practice. We are going to give
Cameron the fight of his life because he is wrong."
He vowed to repeal the Bill if Labour wins the next election.
But he insists the Bill could yet be killed off. "If I read the
newspapers I am led to believe half the Cabinet has joined Labour's
Drop the Bill campaign."
Labour is pinning its hopes on the release of the national risk
register, detailing the dangers of the reforms. The Government is
resisting publication, and Labour has called a vote on the issue.
At least 10 Lib Dems back its release. If the report was made
public and it did contain stark warnings about the impact of the
shake-up, it could prove lethal to the Government's programme.
As the farrago has dragged on, costs have risen too. Redundancy
payments to lay off the bureaucrats are expected to top £800m, with
doubts about the claimed future annual savings of £1.5bn. In
January last year, the official impact assessment suggested £7.7bn
net savings, but after the pause and major rewriting of the Bill,
the benefits were downgraded to £6bn. Hundreds of thousands of
pounds have been spent on getting the Bill passed.
Money is not in abundance in the NHS, which must save £20bn
through efficiencies by 2015. The extra cash is due to be ploughed
back into the service, because spending increases will be marginal
and nothing like the 3 or 4 per cent seen under Labour. The big
problem for the Government is that if the reforms do not work, or
falter in any way, throwing money at the problem will not be an
option.
Which means Mr Cameron could be left with a real mess on his
hands come the next election, and he can't argue he wasn't
warned.
Reforming the reforms: How the changes to the NHS were
revised
Lansley's original plan
Layers of bureaucracy, including primary care trusts (PCTs) and
strategic health authorities, would be swept away and by 2013 GPs
handed sole control of £60bn to buy services through commissioning
consortia. The regulator, Monitor, would be charged with promoting
competition: hospitals and trusts would be pitted against each
other in a system modelled on the private utilities market. The
Secretary of State for Health would have no day-to-day
responsibility for the NHS.
What changed?
After the "pause", the timescale slipped and the deadline for
GPs to take over was no longer mandatory. Nurses and hospital
doctors are also involved in the design of services, with
commissioning consortia becoming clinical commissioning groups
(CCG). It means 151 PCTs have been replaced by 279 (CCGs), many
hiring the same staff. The National Commissioning Board will take
responsibility for a £21bn budget, raising fears about a return to
top-down control. Competition is no longer based on price but
service quality. The Secretary of State will remain responsible for
the NHS. Still a sticking point is the plan to raise to 49 per cent
the cap on private work that hospitals can do. This has fuelled
claims of "privatisations by the back door".
Lining up against the Bill
British Medical Association
Chartered Society of Physiotherapists
Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association
Faculty of Public Health
GMB union
Institute of Healthcare Management
NHS Consultants' Association
Patients Association
Royal College of GPs
Royal College of Midwives
Royal College of Nursing
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Royal College of Radiologists
Unison and Unite unions
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