LANSLEY'S PULSE

摘要

The coalition's Health and Social Care Bill is in a mess. Faced with widespread opposition from MPs against plans to give GPs the purse strings, health secretary Andrew Lansley this week promised to put proceedings on hold while he "pauses, listens and engages". You may surmise that the interlude is more about preventing this emotive policy area from becoming a political own goal than reversing the ideology behind the bill. Healthcare capital projects are a case in point. This government views PFI as a dirty word and the days of mega £lbn hospitals have long gone, although there are still projects using the PFI model that are being procured below the radar. But this leaves Whitehall with a dilemma: how can it continue to harness private sector funding to build more hospitals and health centres while at the same time making the procurement process look more accountable for this age of austerity?