New Man About Town

Civitas, 15 June 2009

By Lara Sonola

Some might call it a poisoned chalice, or instead, a great opportunity for an up-and-coming young minister to make his mark in a challenging department.  Either way the approaching years, (or year) depending on your political outlook, will be very challenging for Andy Burnham, the new Secretary of State for Health.

There have been four Health Ministers in the last five years: John Reid, Patricia Hewitt, Alan Johnson and now Andrew Burnham.  Throughout this time, the policies and targets regularly touted by the Department of Health have been in a state of constant flux, and the budget has vacillated between surpluses and deficits.

So who is this new incumbent, and does he possess the skills to manoeuvre the giant monolith which is the NHS through a period of exceptionally tight financing?  Former roles include acting as a special adviser in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, junior minister in the Home Office and Chief Secretary to the Treasury.  As a minister in the Department of Health in 2006, he proposed the idea of an NHS constitution to Gordon Brown and negotiated with the pharmaceutical industry to produce guidelines aimed at reducing the NHS drugs bill.  However he was caught in the recent expenses furore when it emerged he submitted a claim for £16, 444 for obtaining and partly renovating a new London flat in 2005.  Infamously, he claimed during an eight-month long dispute with the fees office that he “might be in line for a divorce” if the claim was rejected.  He strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

However, let’s get back to the health service.  According to an interview with the Health Services Journal last week, Mr Burnham believes that driving improvements in quality will be vital to “improve productivity as NHS spending is cut”, but it is easy or merely lazy to assume that improving quality alone will necessarily lead to cost savings?  And isn’t a more radical approach to the current situation needed?  Three years ago the NHS was suffering a deficit of £512M, and as a junior health minister, he had to manage the ensuing crisis as more than 12, 000 jobs were cuts and wards closed across the country.  This time we have plenty of forewarning of the straightened finances ahead, but will he have the political capital or will to implement tangible restructuring which is urgently needed?  As Niall Dickson pointed out , “Just to focus on quality won’t do it.  There is a need to be those things and a lot more, including designing pathways and changing the way services are delivered.”

What do you think the new health minister can or should bring to DH policy?