Doctors are urged to set aside cynicism about government initiatives for the NHS

Doctors are vital to the innovation and leadership needed to help the NHS cope with the looming squeeze on public spending, the NHS’s medical director, Bruce Keogh, said last week. Unfortunately, he added, their cynicism is getting in the way.

Speaking at the annual conference in Birmingham of NHS Employers, the body that helps negotiate pay and conditions for NHS staff, Professor Keogh made it clear that the Department of Health had no intention of giving up on quality improvement in NHS systems, whatever the prevailing financial climate.

He described a string of initiatives to drive up quality that the …