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Good points from Mike Batt and all above

Unfortunately there is a problem with big gov't departments where making policy is taken more seriously than implementing it. Over time the 'landscape' is littered with fragments of previous policy and initative and the whole system becomes mind-bogglingly diverse and complex. It gets harder and harder to make a change that pleases the political masters and this creates a rollercoaster of competing policies that are never completely followed through. What a terrible environment to manage large organisations providing critical services!

It appears that the only cross-party agreement to provide consistency for the NHS has been the one to take it out of government control - to privatise it. This started with the invention of the 'internal market' and as soon as that was taken seriously there was no turning back. I don't understand the outcry at LtNHS as it is just the logical continuation of the internal market policy direction.

Time to read 'The Doctor's Dilemma' again to acquaint us with the pleaseures of private medicine. Our best hope is for a quick and relatively pain free death for the NHS so that it's reinvention comes as soon as possible (2047 anyone?).