MPs to probe £700m deficit as prime minister says reform at 'crunch point'
Patrick Wintour, political editor
Wednesday April 19, 2006
The Guardian
MPs
are preparing to launch an inquiry into how NHS trusts have managed to
accumulate multimillion pound deficits despite record extra spending,
the Guardian has learned.
The inquiry, expected to be agreed by the
health select committee, will pile further pressure on Tony Blair and
the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, over the impact of their reform
programme.
Downing Street now believes that it is potentially
more vulnerable over the NHS than any other issue, with the prime
minister warning yesterday that his long planned reforms have reached
"crunch point". In his second speech on health in a week, Mr Blair
admitted that the scale of the challenge to deliver a new NHS was
"very, very tough". [read article]
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