Ministers 'ring alarm bells on NHS reforms'

 

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
From the blogs

Disclosure: We’d never even been to a club when we made our first single

For most of us, reaching eighteen years of age opens up a new world for exploration, spontaneity and...

Top of the posts: Drunken rants, the Western Fail and misogyny pushers

The most read blogs this week, as determined by stats.

Sepp Blatter: Penalty shoot-outs must remain, they’re football’s great leveller

As England supporters, we should scorn at any such deciding factor within football. On so many occas...

Why do some men consider the street as a female meat market?

Pronouncements on sexual inequality in the UK are normally met with an eye roll by my generation. As...

Suggested Topics

Andrew Lansley tonight brushed off suggestions that he should sacrifice himself to ensure the survival of the coalition's controversial NHS reforms.

The Health Secretary hit back following reports of criticism from Tory Cabinet colleagues over his handling of the shake-up.

Asked if it was time he resigned in order to save the changes, Mr Lansley told journalists: "No, it is not. Because actually we as a government have committed to supporting the NHS.

"This legislation has been supported by the House of Commons, by the House of Lords."

Commenting after delivering a speech in Edinburgh, Mr Lansley went on: "It is not about the Bill as such, it is about what the Bill enables the NHS to achieve in the future.

"That is not about me, that is about us as a government."

He added: "It is because the NHS matters so much, because we believe in the values of the NHS, we have to be prepared to reform."

The latest wave of speculation over Mr Lansley's future was sparked when Tory grassroots site ConservativeHome claimed three Cabinet ministers had privately "rung the alarm bell" about the shake-up.

One apparently called for the health secretary to be replaced, another said the Bill should be dropped, and the third likened the NHS reforms to the poll tax.

Editor Tim Montgomerie wrote: "David Cameron's greatest political achievement as leader of the opposition was to neutralise health as an issue.

"The greatest mistake of his time as Prime Minister has been to put it back at the centre of political debate."

Party co-chairman Baroness Warsi and health minister Simon Burns were quickly mobilised to try to shore up Mr Lansley's position.

Mr Burns told BBC News: "To be quite frank, they are all unnamed - I regard it as tittle-tattle.

"From what I see within the parliamentary party and from my conversations with ministers, they are very fully supportive because they understand the need for the NHS to modernise to make sure that patients are at the centre of decision-making about their health."

However, the row showed little signs of abating. Earlier this week an unnamed Downing Street source was reported as saying the health secretary should be "taken out and shot" for mishandling the policy. David Cameron was perceived to have offered Mr Lansley only lukewarm backing when the issue was raised at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

The Government has already "paused" the Health and Social Care Bill and accepted dozens of amendments since it was first introduced.

But the concessions have failed to quell protests from professional bodies such as the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing.

The legislation has already suffered one defeat since reaching the Lords and there are fears that the process could drag on into next month.

In his speech today, Mr Lansley said: "As some of you may have heard, we're making a few changes south of the border. Giving patients more control of their own healthcare will embody the principle of shared decision making."

He added: "We're putting clinicians in charge, free from burdensome top-down, process-driven controls...I do believe we are about to see a huge upward shift in quality in the NHS in England."

Mr Lansley said his reasons for trying to modernise the health service are "very simple".

He said: "I want patients in the NHS to enjoy outcomes, results, that are consistently among the very best available anywhere in the world."

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: "We already know that the Prime Minister isn't listening to doctors and nurses. But it's a shock to find out that even senior members of his own Cabinet have to take to a Conservative website to get through to him about the damage he is doing to the NHS."

Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "Nurses, doctors and patients have been telling David Cameron for months that he's on the wrong track on the NHS.

"Now even members of his Cabinet are telling David Cameron that he is making a profound mistake on the NHS.

"I think what this shows is a Prime Minister who, every day that he presses on with this Bill, is increasingly out of touch with everyone who cares about the NHS.

"He should drop this Bill which is wasting billions of pounds on a bureaucratic reorganisation and threatens a creeping privatisation of our National Health Service."

PA

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?

Ridley Scott: The most macho man in movies?

His cinematic CV is unparalleled. Yet the Alien director is still obsessed with beating his rivals.
Being Gary Lineker: The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport

Being Gary Lineker

The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport...
Gallic gourmets are putting French cuisine back on the culinary map

Gallic gourmets put France back on culinary map

Overdone, out of touch and old-fashioned: French cuisine has never been at a lower ebb...
So Moorish: Mark Hix offers his own take on classic Moroccan dishes

So Moorish: Mark Hix's Moroccan dishes

Why not create a north African-inspired feast to share with your friends?
Sin and the single mother: The history of lone parenthood

Sin and the single mother

Maureen Paton explores the history of lone parenthood.
The outsider: Margaret Howell is British fashion's queen of minimalism

The outsider: Margaret Howell

The designer tells Susannah Frankel why she has never felt part of the fashion industry.
The 50 Best luggage

The 50 Best luggage

From chic cases to compact baggage, pack it all in this summer
For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos in Greece

For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos

On a secluded peninsula in north-east Greece lies an enclave that's way off the tourist map, especially for women...
48 Hours In: Faro

48 Hours In: Faro

More than just the gateway to the Algarve, this city has much to tempt you off the beach.
Here, the coast is always clear: Celebrating sixty years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

60 years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

Mick Webb reveals a land of puffins, tanks and Hollywood blockbusters.
Free Range: Meet the designers of tomorrow

Free Range

Meet the artists of the future
Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

As scientists at Rothamsted's GM trials plead with activists not to sabotage their work, Michael McCarthy visits the battle field
Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Deep in Cameroon's rainforests, poachers are killing primates for food. Evan Williams reports from Yokadouma on a practice that could create a pandemic
Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Government urged to take abuse more seriously as London study shows 41 per cent are harassed
Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Militant Tuhoe tribe members defiant amid claims race relations had been set back 100 years