“I have previously criticised the Starmer government’s NHS reform plans as reheated Blairism. They rediscover reforms that were already implemented 20 years ago, repackage them a bit, and pass them off as novel and bold. 

“After the new plans announced today, I still think ‘reheated Blairism’ is a fair description – but I’m starting to wonder whether this might actually be a good thing, after all. 

“A bit of background. The NHS has a reputation for being resistant to reform, and that reputation is, in one sense, justified. If ‘reform’ means ‘fundamental, system-level changes’, then no, Britain does not do those. 

“However, if ‘reform’ means ‘a reorganisation within the system’, then the NHS has been in an almost constant state of reform for decades. Since new health secretaries want to be seen to be doing something, and leave their mark, there is an incentive to reform too much rather than too little. More specifically, there is an incentive to do something which looks novel, as opposed to building upon changes introduced by a predecessor.”