The papers this week were full of the Liberal Democrat spring conference’s rejection of the government’s health reforms.

It was all a bit “awkward” for Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, reported the Sunday Telegraph. But it seemed health secretary Andrew Lansley was prepared to tweak his plans “after seeing the Liberal Democrats tear them apart”, added the Times.

The Financial Times quoted a “senior liberal democrat” as saying: “If this goes wrong it will be even worse than tuition fees.”

This was before the doctors had their two pennies worth.

Writing in the Guardian ahead of Tuesday’s “crisis meeting” convened by the British Medical Association, NHS Tameside and Glossop chair Kailash Chand promised it would be “passionate and argumentative”.

“The BMA has world class leaders. But at times such as these, when the core of the NHS is at risk, they can no longer simply wait and watch,” he warned.

Meanwhile, Will Hutton’s report on public sector pay had hit the fan. In a piece for the Daily Telegraph on the eve of the launch, Mr Hutton said the public sector “needs the very best management”.

But he added: “Senior pay in the public sector has to be fair in the sense that it is proportional and deserved through genuinely great results… The present framework is inadequate.”

And finally, a patient who branded his hospital meals “not fit for pigs” won £200 compensation in court after he spent that amount buying his own food.

Catering firm Medirest was ordered to reimburse Michael Cooper after he refused to eat their microwave meals at Southampton General Hospital, reported the Daily Mail.

“I hope I have started something other people might follow,” he told the paper.