Do I sense proper NHS reform?

Have Tony Blair and Gordon Brown been reading Picking Losers? Probably not. But there are hints that someone is mentioning the P word over at the Department of Health. But don't get too excited, all is not what it seems.

The FT are reporting today that the NHS might provide only core services, with patients forced to pay for any other treatment or meet it from private insurance. The small print of the public services policy review states that the government should "-look at the possibility of drawing up a package of services that all users are entitled to-". Nice (not just a nice name, but an awfully clever one too - the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) could be asked to do that. Only problem is, what are the core services provided by the NHS. Surely the core services are just about all of them? David Hunter, professor of health policy at Durham University, said: "-It is very difficult to define what is in the basket, so either it doesn't get done or very little gets left out. You don't save much, and you are still left with the issues of how to ration care and assess quality and cost effectiveness-". So don't hold your breath for any significant reform and if there is this might not be all you would expect it to be.