Politicians practise politics. So it was understandable that Alan Johnson, UK health secretary, allowed his remarks at the Labour party conference last week to be seen as a sign that he was lukewarm about the healthcare reforms many union members dislike.

On the same day came news that a group set up to advise the government on how to improve buying private sector services for the National Health Service had disbanded. Both events add to concern that the impetus for change is on the wane.

Since its members believed they were wasting their time, the decision of the NHS commercial advisory board to wind itself up has some merit. Public bodies have a habit of staying on well past their shelf life.

The temptation is often to carry on as though their advice matters – even when it falls on deaf ears. In this case, members recognised that ministers had stopped listening and they could use their time and talents more profitably. On this, they should be congratulated.

There is, however, a real worry that the government is now cooling on moves towards choice and competition in the health service.

A reduced commitment to the reforms under way would matter less if it were part of a broader debate that generated ideas about more radical changes to healthcare provision.

That discussion is entirely absent in the two main political parties. They are both so busy pledging allegiance to the NHS that they do not move beyond the undoubted affection it commands in the UK.

They fail to consider why it is that few countries in the rest of the world have followed the British model.

So if the government is disposed to retreat from market reforms within the present structure, its only Plan B looks like the notion that it can improve the NHS through centralised control.

This is a non-starter. On Monday, Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, spoke about personalising healthcare provision and other public services.

Personalising must mean moving decisions much closer to the individual rather than handing them to suits in Whitehall.

The proper role for central government now is to drive through the market-like reforms in healthcare that Tony Blair’s administration introduced after spending its first years tearing up the Tories’ version of the same system.

Primary care trusts are often far from eager to pick up the phone to private sector businesses who could provide services: it requires a strong push from Whitehall. When Mr Johnson is back behind his ministerial desk he must make clear he will provide that push.

From:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/89a52162-6cfd-11dc-ab19-0000779fd2ac.html