HSJ50 2006 supplement - Health Service Journal

ED MAYNARD, PETER SEARLE, ALEX MACNAUGHTON, MICHAEL AUSTEN, EMPICS/PA/IAN NICHOLSONANDREW LANSLEYSHADOW HEALTH SECRETARY21Among managers wellused to being malignedby opposition parties,Andrew Lansley isperhaps the most popular shadowhealth secretary for many years.Managers have been impressedwith the soft-spoken Conservative,who visited a fifth of English acutetrusts within a year of hisappointment in early 2004. Thosewho met him say he took time tolisten to concerns, and wereimpressed by his grasp of the issues.During his tenure he has had tofight voices in his party who wantedto see co-payment or socialinsurance systems in the NHS; andduring the last election he had topromote patient passports, a policydreamt up by his right-wingpredecessor Liam Fox, whichallowed Labour to paint theNIALL DICKSONCHIEF EXECUTIVE, KING’S FUND25Since Niall Dickson’sarrival from the BBC in2004, the King’s Fundhas focused heavily onissues such as long-term conditionsand choice, and funded the Wanlessreview of social care for the elderly.It has benefited from his liking forstirring up a debate.He is one of a small group of NHSfigures who health secretary PatriciaHewitt (2) regularly bounces ideasoff, and serves on the Cabinet Office’sNHS National Leadership Network.He is not afraid to speak out.While he said Sir Nigel Crisp wasright to shoulder responsibility forthe NHS’ hard times, he added thatthe timing of the former NHSchief ’s resignation was wrong andthat culpability extended to28Dr Mayur Lakhani,RCGP chair since 2004,started out with a lowerprofile than predecessorDavid Haslam, but this is changing.GP engagement, after the qualityand outcomes framework but beforepractice-based commissioning, wasa major challenge.He has warned GPs that failing toseize opportunities ‘could lead to adeclining GP profession pitchedagainst alternative providers with abusiness background’.One of Dr Lakhani’s key aims hasbeen to improve the image andstanding of general practice, fromone where GPs feel they are ‘lookeddown on’ by other medical areas.Conservatives as a party which didnot care about the NHS. He binnedthe policy straight after the election.Lansley says he plans to spendthe next two years talking to theNHS and the private sector for ideason how to take forward Conservativehealth policy.politicians who oversaw expensivepay deals that lay at the heart of somany financial problems.And in June he told HSJ thatpoliticians were ‘pretty useless’ indelivering health reform messages.DR MAYUR LAKHANIPRESIDENT, ROYAL COLLEGE OF GPSHe also wants to overhaulpostgraduate medical education andtraining for GPs, to drive up carestandards and prepare GPs for rolesand responsibilities previouslybelonging to secondary care.RICHARD GRANGERDIRECTOR GENERAL, CONNECTING FOR HEALTH22Richard Granger’sdebut as IT czar at theNHS Confederationconference was typical:he said the photographer could takeonly one photograph. When thehapless snapper took two, MrGranger sent him out of the room.His hard-nosed reputationpreceded him from his work withCapita introducing London’scongestion charge. The ITprogramme has also exhibited thattrenchant management of suppliers,although it has also had problems.The National Audit Office warnedthat its June report would criticiseConnecting for Health’s ‘failure totake the people in the NHS with thesystem’. The report turned out to bemild; its language and content saidto be the result of negotiation withMr Granger.26It is often said theunions are a spentpolitical force butUnison’s KarenJennings has shown that it is stillpossible for them to changegovernment policy.Ms Jennings is national secretaryfor health at the public sector union,where she leads the campaignagainst what she sees as the‘privatisation’ of the health service.She is in charge of the organisationof half a million health memberswho work across the broad range ofoccupations in the healthcare sector.Last year it was largely down toher campaigning that thegovernment backed down on plansto ensure PCTs handed over the vastmajority of the provision of theirservices to the private andvoluntary sectors.The proposal had beencontained in the infamousCommissioning a Patient-ledNHS document put out byformer NHS chiefexecutive Sir Nigel Crisplast summer.But Ms Jenningsgalvanised the unions tooppose the scheme and,following a high-profileLabour conference defeat, itwas announced that PCTs wouldonly have to divest services ifthey could not prove they coulddo it most cost effectively.And this summer shewas at it again, whenthe governmentpublished anadvertisementthat appeared toThe heat is now on. Healthminister Lord Warner was forced toadmit earlier this year that CfHcosts would far exceed the £6.8bnallocated. The IT industry reckonseven a estimate of £12-18bn extra isconservative. And CfH’s clinicalengagement is still being criticised.KAREN JENNINGSNATIONAL SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, UNISONinvite bids from private firms to runclinical services. Health secretaryPatricia Hewitt (2) denied this, butshe still ordered the advert bewithdrawn and ‘redrafted’.Now Ms Jennings is a key forcebehind the joint union campaign‘The Heat is On’, which aims tohighlight the effect of governmentreforms on patient care.Issues on which she hascampaigned include privatisationand structural reform in the healthservice, health policy in older age,the ethics of industrial action,advocacy and empowerment ofhealth users, and whistleblowingand public interest disclosure.10 Health Service Journal supplement 14 September 2006 hsj.co.uk