High anxiety

摘要

On the eve of the election in 1997, Tony Blair told voters they had 24 hours to save the National Health Service. On December 13th, Patricia Hewitt echoed that rhetoric when she said the reform programme of the next 24 months would safeguard the nhs for the next 20 years. Unlike Mr Blair's vacuous slogan, there was some substance to the health secretary's claim. After wasting its first term of office, Labour used its second to develop a cure based on competition and choice for the nhs. In the May election, voters gave Labour the chance to implement that market-based plan. Just seven months later, however, the health service is reeling from a string of financial reverses that make reform all the more urgent.