Wednesday 16 November 2016

NHS cuts: Why they terrify people in power

NHS cuts: Why they terrify people in power NHS England's handling of the hospital cuts programme seems a fairly ham-fisted way of going about a major review of local health services.

But there are understandable reasons why bosses fell into such a secretive and controlling approach. It is known as the Richard Taylor effect.

In the late 1990s, people in Kidderminster started rallying against plans to downgrade their local hospital. It prompted Richard Taylor, a retired local doctor, to put himself forward to become an MP.

He was successful, taking the Wyre Forest seat in the 2001 election from Labour, as an independent candidate promising to fight the cuts.

His majority was 18,000, in what was the shock result of a fairly routine second election win for Tony Blair.

Since then, those at the top of the NHS and politicians have tried to tread very carefully through the minefield of health service "reconfiguration" (as they like to call it in NHS circles). BBC News

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