Managers must brace themselves as junior minister Lord Darzi's shake-up is unveiled. 'Ministers are preparing for a summer of protest as residents campaign against proposals that could mean local hospitals losing specialist services to large regional centres,' reported The Daily Telegraph.
It grabbed a word with Lord Darzi: "He acknowledged that the plans would bring protest and said that in the past officials were bad at communicating the reason behind such changes."
There was plenty of coverage of controversial proposals to ban children from school if they had not had an MMR jab. It would not stop the spread of disease, concluded the Daily Express. "New ways must be found to protect public health but coercion must not be the first step," said its leader.
Many papers picked up on a study urging ministers to stop labelling Britons "binge drinkers".
"It's good to drink!" chimed the Daily Star.
Bad news for the Department of Health, ranked second worst department after what the Financial Times described as a "ground-breaking government review of its own officials' ability to do a good job".
The paper quoted public policy expert Colin Talbot, who said the assessment of the DH and others was "pretty brutal".
The Sunday Express reminded us what health secretary Alan Johnson said on Desert Island Discs when asked if he could ever be prime minister: "I do not think I would be good enough. I do not think I have the capabilities."
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