It’s a continuity of carelessness, and of crisis in the NHS as a whole, that may really hurt the Conservatives as the next election approaches
Health and Social Care Secretary Therese Coffey during her visit to The Marven Surgery in London over the dire state of the NHS today, her reflexive defence was that she hadn’t had long in the job. “It’s just been two weeks, Madam Deputy Speaker…” she protested.
Bills with “repeal” in their title aren’t unusual. They normally occur when one party replaces another in Government, upending their predecessor’s wrong-headed plans. But what is unusual is when that repeal bill repeals a bill passedAs the third Health Secretary in three months , Coffey struggled to explain why her “A,B,C,D” plan was anything other than an alphabetti spaghetti of Tory health failures.
Yet there was also a suspicion within the NHS that part of the £500m funding will come from its already stretched budget. It’s understood that “efficiency savings” and underspends will be used, as well as money previously earmarked to pay the National Insurance rise that is being repealed. If that sounds confusing, it is.
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting was merciless in his response, deriding Coffey’s “get on your bike” approach to healthcare. Her other “new” idea, an “ambulance auxilliary service” sounded like a reheated existing programme at best, a Dad’s Army of commandeered vehicles at worst.
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