The YP comment (Jan 5): How to cure NHS waste

And certainly the way in which bureaucrats at NHS England spent their way through £7m of taxpayers’ money in a year suggests that notions such as protecting the public purse, or indeed of prioritising the needs of patients have yet to filter through to the health service’s upper echelons.

No one doubts that a certain amount of spending on rail fares, flights and hotel accommodation is necessary for the efficient running of a huge, national organisation. But the very fact that the new chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, has now banned staff from using first-class rail travel indicates, at the very least, that there was insufficient control over employee spending and, at worst, that a culture of profligacy had prevailed.

Indeed, this latest revelation follows previous reports of almost £200,000-a-year being spent on travel, meals and hotels by just nine senior executives.

Considering that it was the Conservatives’ controversial health reforms that created NHS England, and that they are supposedly the party of austerity, these details are particularly embarrassing for the Government.

Yet they are also awkward for Labour, given that Ed Miliband has committed himself to spending £2.5bn more on the NHS than the Government does, without necessarily instituting any checks to ensure that this money would be spent wisely and not frittered away on perks and conveniences for staff.

The Stafford Hospital scandal offered the most extreme example of a situation that too many NHS patients experience on a regular basis, namely that the health service is too often run in the interests of the provider – whether that be the executives or the health unions – rather than the patient. And as long as expensive reforms fail to do anything to rein in wasteful spending, this situation will not be remedied.

****

Duke’s denial

IT IS customary for Buckingham Palace to meet salacious allegations involving members of the Royal Family with a dour “no comment” and a refusal to give the accusers the satisfaction of eliciting a reaction from those whose reputation they have tried to sully.

So for the Palace to take the unprecedented step of issuing two statements during the weekend, both categorically denying claims by an American woman, Virginia Roberts, which suggest that the Duke of York is involved in an under-age sex scandal, shows how potentially damaging these unsubstantiated allegations are.

The Palace’s reaction is also a testament to changing times, with the internet capable of spreading scurrilous rumours around the world within moments, and the fact that, in an age of instantaneous reaction, rapid rebuttal is important with silence frequently interpreted as an indication that there is something to hide.

The fact that rumours and allegations spread so quickly, however, does not necessarily mean that they become more substantial in the process. It is important to remember that Prince Andrew remains guilty of nothing more than questionable judgment in choosing to continue his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein after the American financier had served a jail sentence following a plea of guilty to a charge of soliciting prostitution.

Nevertheless, this situation threatens to cause considerable embarrassment to the Royal Family and to Britain itself. And the fact that the allegations have been made in court documents, filed in the US, means that a lengthy legal process is in the offing, prolonging the situation still further and suggesting that the Press office at Buckingham Palace must remain on its mettle for some time yet.

****

Back to reality

FOR MANY, it is the dreariest day of the year. The return to work, or to school, following the 
now customary two 
weeks of Christmas
and New Year celebrations, can be a deeply depressing time, made worse by 
cold weather, congested roads, or the fact that, 
after a fortnight lying 
idle, the car will not even start, as the AA reports today.

Beware of generalisation, however. For many of those afflicted by loneliness, or who find the often forced jollity of Christmas celebrations particularly trying, today may mark a welcome return to normality. But for those truly struggling to face today, a crumb of comfort: Easter is only 89 days away.