Return to the true path?

doi:10.1136/bmj.39405.462431.94

BMJ 2007;335:1066-1067 (24 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39405.462431.94

News

Return to the true path?

Nicholas Timmins, public policy editor, Financial Times

Nicholas Timmins considers whether the government's decisionto cut back its planned use of the private sector in the NHSis pragmatic or ideological

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Happy trade unions, a fuming private sector, bewildered taxpayers,patients who are still waiting, and—almost certainly—aninquiry by the National Audit Office.

That was the outcome of health secretary Alan Johnson's announcementlast week that only three more schemes are definitely goingahead from the second wave of contracts for diagnostic servicesand new independent sector treatment centres in England.

Mr Johnson's written statement dealt merely with the 16 contractsstill extant from a negotiation that has been going on for threeyears now. Six other schemes were cancelled. Seven remain underprocurement—although the health department says that thereis "no guarantee" they will go ahead, despite giving privateassurances to the companies that they will.

But behind Mr Johnson's studiedly low key statement was a biggerpicture. What, under Tony Blair's government, was originallymeant to be about £6bn ( ${euro}$ 8.4bn; $12.3bn) worth of businessfor the private sector . . . [Full text of this article]