Health Matters | Paul Corrigan's blog

2 “The Government is wrong to carry out an unnecessary top down reorganisation.” 

A few weeks ago Andy Burnham made an important speech launching a major consultation on Labour’s Health Policy. What he described as “the biggest consultation on health and social care policy by the Labour Party for 20 years” is obviously an important event. My Monday posts are discussing his policy proposals in a particular way. Read the rest of this entry »

1: “The Government is wrong to be fragmenting the NHS.”

A few weeks ago Andy Burnham made an important speech to launch a major consultation on health policy. What he has described as the biggest consultation on health and social care policy by the Labour Party for 20 years is obviously an important activity. Over the next few months I am sure there will be fierce debate about what should and should not go into the final policy but every Monday for the next few weeks, I’m going to discuss the policy proposals in a particular way. Read the rest of this entry »

I didn’t post about this stirring at my first sighting a few weeks ago because one flutter in the foliage doesn’t necessary mean that something is really happening. But now, after a couple more sightings, I think we can safely say that, within the Labour Party, we really can see the return of NHS reform as a policy discussion. Read the rest of this entry »

A report in the Guardian last week explained how some Labour Party policies that were announced at the Labour Party Conference were developed.

Before the Conference I commented on the difficulties that the Party front bench had got itself into by saying it would repeal the Health and Social Care Act of 2012. On the face of it this looks like good, simple politics. (The Act is unpopular, ergo repealing the Act will be popular). Read the rest of this entry »

Andy Burnham made an important speech to Conference about the Labour Party’s policy on health services. In doing so demonstrated why it’s important for opposition parties not to announce policy specifics 30 months before the election. What he has discovered is that when you announce one big thing it leads to a whole host of questions about everything else. .

He announced a number of things that will now be probed in great detail. Read the rest of this entry »

Ed Miliband has been right to concentrate on Labour’s plans to reform the economy at the Party Conference. There is growing and longer term evidence that the British economy really is broken. The prospect of our being able to revive it in its present form – so that it can provide prosperity for even the average earner let alone the lower paid – looks bleak. Read the rest of this entry »

Some of my friends’ lives revolve around the dates of world, national or European soccer cups. The more normal amongst them organise their time around their jobs or houses. But most of ‘me and mine’ have had their lives organised around the milestones of General Election dates. Read the rest of this entry »

For readers interested only in the NHS I’m afraid this is going to be a bit of history lesson of the world of left-wing politics in the mid 20^th century. For younger readers interested in politics it will be a small lesson from history that may explain some of the ways in which politics work today. Read the rest of this entry »

As the Health and Social Care Bill was clearing its final hurdle in the House of Commons – just after 10 o’clock on Tuesday evening – I was on the Radio 4 programme “The World Tonight” talking about the Bill.

I mentioned recently that it’s fun talking to journalists about the Health and Social Care Bill because they, as a matter of professional pride, expect to be able to explain very complex things very simply. Yet they are all to a person defeated by the experience of trying to do that with this Bill. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Tuesday unusually saw a debate on the Health and Social Care Bill in both Houses of Parliament at once. In the Lords the 3rd Reading of the Bill is the last their lordships will see of the Bill. In the Commons there was an opposition day’s debate discussing a motion advising the Government to drop the Bill. This in itself was unusual since next week the Commons will have its own opportunity to vote to drop the Bill when the real thing returns to the Commons for a debate on the changes made in the Lords. Read the rest of this entry »