Avoiding the Burnham Disincentive

One story which has been rumbling along in the background of Ashcroft and Chilcot – and, indeed, over the past few months – is the fallout from Andy Burnham’s claim that NHS bodies are now the state’s “preferred provider” of healthcare in this country. With those two words, in a speech last September, the Health Secretary appears to have pulled the process of reform back a few years – as private and voluntary sector providers have tried desperately to back out of a process which they now feel is weighted, impossibly, against then.

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Alexander Larman

Beware the middle of Lidl

Anyway, I’d recommend that you check out Nick Timmins’ excellent coverage of the latest develoments over at the FT. Here’s an excerpt from a blog post he wrote yesterday which demonstrates just how destructive Bunham’s words have been:

“But ‘preferred provider’ also cuts across other government policies.