Even the new health secretary, Sajid Javid, seems nervous about the extent of this government power grab
It’s no surprise that the new health secretary has balked at a gigantic new reorganisation bill before he had even got his feet under the NHS operating table. Five million people waiting for treatment, a workforce crisis and another Covid-19 tide already cancelling treatments is trouble enough. Sajid Javid’s anxiety is shared by many, Theresa May just one of those warning of the bill’s perils. But No 10 blasted ahead with the bill this week, impervious to this political dynamite.
Whatever their merits or follies, all new re-disorganisations are risky for Tory governments, who are never trusted with the NHS. How easy it is for Labour, backed by influential NHS figures, to arouse public suspicion of Tory intentions. Even Margaret Thatcher had to back off from her radical privatising impulse, to swear between gritted teeth that the NHS was “safe in my hands”. Voters might ignore the fiendishly complex history of NHS restructuring, but they will grasp one simple, sinister point: the government is seizing control of the everyday running of the NHS, in what the Health Service Journal calls “an audacious power grab”. Any local decision can fall under populist political whim from the top.
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