"We're going to cut bureaucracy."

“Too many pen pushers,” is a common criticism by Andrew Lansley as he seeks to drastically cut the bureaucracy of the NHS. By scrapping PCTs, he is creating many new complex layers of bureaucracy, raising the number of quangos from 163 to 521.

Contrary to slashing the budget by £20bn, the cost of the reforms is estimated to reach £3bn. And the drastic cost cutting will disrupt the NHS’s foundations irrevocably. The NHS chief executive, Sir David Nicholson, has warned that the 4% productivity improvements required by the £20bn cut had “never been achieved in the history of the NHS or any healthcare system in the world.” The Health Select Committee are also sceptical this target can be reached, as are 55% of NHS managers.

All this will ultimately leave the NHS more disorganised, bloated and racking up more debt.