Health Matters | Paul Corrigan's blog

Having read a number of blog posts on Ara’s leaving of the Government, it seems odd not to add my own thoughts on this. In truth I don’t have any new facts or history to add, but I have my perspective on him, his work and departure.

Ara is a friend and I have known him since I worked as Alan Milburn’s special adviser. You don’t have to spend long with him to recognise what an unusually gifted individual he is both as a person but also as a social and political animal. A few great doctors can obtain followership from some of their profession because they clearly know what they are doing. And most importantly are prepared to argue long and hard with their profession about what they think should happen.
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The good thing about the last few weeks is that the more that is said about the problems of the coming crisis in public expenditure, the more that it is recognised that the NHS cannot be excluded from its impact. Its true that because of the importance of the NHS there may be a smaller impact on the NHS than say transport, but there is still a recognition that the increases in money of the last few years will stop, but the increase in demand for health care will continue.
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