New health secretary vows to continue NHS reform agenda

doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7403.1347

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Owen Dyer

London

The surprise departure of Alan Milburn as health secretary will not derail the NHS reform agenda of Tony Blair's government, says his successor, John Reid. Dr Reid told BBC Radio 4's Today programme last week that he has been an “arch-moderniser” for 20 years, and “a Blairite before Blair was ever heard of.”

Health secretary John Reid has been described as “abrasive,” “uncompromising,” and a “rottweiler”

Dr Reid also dismissed complaints that as a Scottish MP he was ill suited to push through the English project of foundation hospitals. “When they appointed Sven-Göran Eriksson as England manager, there was a huge fuss …