Healthy Developments

The Minister for Health and News Corporation, Jeremy C Hunt, has been wagging the finger at the Care Quality Commission. Certain isolated and sporadic persons at the CQC have allegedly been behaving in a manner more suited to newspaper moguls and cabinet ministers, which undermines "the millions of doctors and nurses who do an amazing job, day in, day out" and whom the Government hopes soon to efficientise out or else sell off to private companies. Hunt gave the NHS a sanctimonious little pat on the head for changing its ways after many years of cover-ups and, presumably, a Duncan Smith approach to statistics. "There has to be accountability within the NHS for people's actions when something goes wrong," Hunt sermonised, and threatened "very, very serious consequences" should the allegations of misconduct be proved and should those responsible turn out to have no special advisers to sack in their place.