Fishburn Hedges

GPs will need to be equipped to deliver the brave new world set out in the NHS white paper

The publication of Andrew Lansley’s NHS white paper has sparked widespread (and heated) debate. By far the most controversial element of the proposals is the shift of commissioning power to GPs. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the expanded - and mandatory - role, for it to work effectively there will be some very practical challenges in communicating, engaging and equipping GPs to deliver the...

A Coalition Budget

Tough but fair, goes the mantra and George Osborne made it clear at the outset that today’s ‘emergency’ Budget was ‘unavoidable’. Not surprisingly, we heard a lot about the scale of the economic challenge facing the Government which borrows one pound in every four that it spends.   We were assured that the coalition would bring the structural deficit into balance by 2014, through “ea...

The race to Number 10 continues

As at 3.15 pm After a weekend of political negotiation – where are we now?After three days of fevered speculation and intensive media scrutiny, things are only just starting to become a little clearer on what the shape of the next government will be. It is to the credit of the negotiating teams around the leadership of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats that there has not been a single ...

Background It's midway through the election campaign and both the bookies and the pollsters agree that there is a high chance of a hung Parliament, thereby conferring ‘kingmaker’ status to the Lib Dems.  This prospect has caused mild panic in some quarters – largely because it’s so unprecedented in recent times.  But to help calm nerves and answer some of the ‘what ifs’, we’ve prod...

As the Government faces its own political mortality and Alistair Darling ponders moving out of No 11 in just six weeks, it’s not surprising today’s Budget was a political event. Although the Chancellor was able to define some political dividing lines for the forthcoming campaign, this was no giveaway Budget.  Instead, the Chancellor’s pitch to the nation is that the Government made the ri...

The next election looks likely to mark a genuine watershed in UK politics. If the polls are accurate, we’ll see either a change of administration for only the second time in the last 30 years or a return to the 1970s and a hung Parliament.Much comment has concerned the make-up and likely direction of travel of a potential incoming Conservative Government. Fewer column inches have been devoted to...