3 February 2015

Government NHS reforms adviser: Burnham’s plan for patient choice is the right way

A health expert who advised this government during the passage of the Health and Social Care Act in 2012 argues that Labour's plan to integrate health and social care is preferable to the coalition's approach.

By Stephen Bubb

(Photo By The shadow health secretary is right. Photo: Getty)

Last week, the former Health Secretary Alan Milburn said it would be a “fatal mistake” for Labour to fight the election by spending on, but not reforming, the NHS. He was joined by another Labour luminary – Lord Darzi – on Friday, as a clear group appeared to line up against the shadow health secretary Andy Burnham’s agenda.

These attacks are not just unseemly, but wrong as well. Look behind the headlines and Burnham’s agenda is the right one: to reenvision the National Health Service as a National Health and Care Service. Now we need more detail on how this is to be done.