The Invisible Hospital and the Secret Garden: An Insider's Commentary on the NHS Reforms

John Spiers Radcliffe Medical Press, pounds sterling18.50, pp 211 ISBN 1 85775 126 4

Do people who chair health boards need experience of organising health services or does the outsider bring a fresh and valuable perspective? John Spiers's book mainly consists of his sparingly revised speeches and articles from nearly four years of chairing first Brighton District Health Authority and then its hospitals trust. It provides plenty of ammunition for both sides of the argument despite what he calls his “premature discharge into the community by Brighton doctors” in 1994.

The Invisible Hospital and the Secret Garden omits Spiers's version …