The Darzi Report

An Empire building, robotics expert, 'Doctor' opponent, yesterday.

We resisted an immediate reaction to the Darzi report. (Actually we were all busy elsewhere, or just too lazy.)

But the national press have been active on the issue and the overall impression is quite funny.

We have a Stalinist government, run in a highly centralised and paranoid way. (By the way yes we are all out to get you out!) Private Eye’s caricature “From the Desk of the Supreme Leader” captures Brown beautifully. Then we get the fun of the Broons, reborn to scunner Broon and his depleted and deserting army.

The Russian Empire was brought down ultimately by the unsustainable farce/tragedy of trying to maintain an illusion. Eventually empty supermarket shelves spoke louder than “Tractor production quotas achieved” and all the efforts of Comrade Stakanovich. As Robert Conquest puts it, (The Dragons of Expectation: Reality and delusion in the course of history p47, Penguin edition)

“The crux is less intelligence than a failure to confront that intelligence with reality-and even a drive to use that intelligence to deny or pervert reality.”

We seem to be getting the same sort of reaction to Darzi. Firstly medical leaders haven’t flown off the handle at it, and have commented, “it’s good in parts” Even Remedy UK have found something to welcome with the repairs to the MMC/MTAs system that has failed so badly (that's state central planning in action for you).

Something much more subtle seems to be happening. The report has been greeted quietly, and the responses seem to vary from “another government report” to “might be good, if ever implemented.” However some most welcome, splendid ridicule is emerging:

Oliver Pritchett does an excellent demolition job on the notion of patient choice in the Telegraph.

Brendan O’Neill at Spiked lays into the illusion of choice New Labour offers. (well nothing new Labour has said is real is real is it?)

Simon Hoggart has a fit of the visions, and sees jargon from top to bottom.


The Public no longer trust the government on NHS reforms. The Telegraph suggests that the NHS might be right for retirement. A bit early perhaps, but it’s an old system, and not up with modern ways.

Harriet Sergeant weighs in the Mail today. The NHS will end not with a bang, but with a door being closed quietly on the last bureaucrats meeting as the agreement to close the last bed in the last hospital is reached. This develops her previous authoritative report “Managing not to manage” for CPS.

Dr Crippen finds the report “offensively inoffensive”

Daniel Finkelstein in the Times finds the whole report to be a dangerous document, because it has nothing to say about reality. It promises much, but it’s unlikely it can deliver anything. Under performing and over promising is a desperate political strategy, rather than any way to run a business or organisation.

Somewhere behind the vision is a realm of fog, where the way forward is entirely unclear. And there is no honesty about this unclarity. The word “Rationing” looms up in the mist, and present fears are less than horrible imaginings such as top up fees. Karol Sikora may be the man to insist we find a way through it.

Meanwhile the ever awful Ben Bradshaw pops up to insult GPs, and accuse us of “gentleman’s agreements” between practices, and other shenanigans. Ben Bradshaw is rapidly becoming as loathsome as Patsy Hewitt remains. About the only thing we don’t hold against him is his homosexuality. He’s plainly lost his connection with reality as this quote shows. On the subject of the National Programme for IT, a scheme dogged by cost overruns, failing public confidence, delays, and doubts over its benefit to patients[6][7], he commented:

"Our use of computer technology in the NHS is becoming the envy of the world. It is saving lives, saving time and saving money. If you talk to health and IT experts anywhere in the world they point to Britain as example of computer technology being used successfully to improve health services to the public."[8]Credo est, quia absurdum.

This government has two years left before we can boot them into touch. They have had to U-turn on many policies recently. Let’s hope we can stop them doing too much damage to the NHS before they go.

Next to no GPs, except the now discredited David Colin-Thome, will support Labour at the next election. Any Labour MP wanting to visit the Ranting House Surgery will be persona non grata.

New Labour are currently ridiculous. History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. In this government’s case we are suffering a tragedy, and their efforts to sort it are farcical.