Kingston's new Accident and Emergency Unit

The opening last weekend of Kingston Hospital's new Accident and Emergency Unit is good news. This much needed investment should make a real difference to local healthcare.

I want to thank everyone involved in making it happen.

If you're like me, you may find the internal colour scheme…well, how can I put this? Interesting? But the facts that the design and medical facilities will be state-of-the-art and that capacity is over double the old unit are what count.

The saga of our new A&E taught me a lot about the NHS - good and bad. Yet above all, it shows money can solve problems in our NHS. It shows that if money is provided, it can be well used.

I want to see NHS reform, definitely. Yet I do not want rushed reform, driven by sound-bites and panic, as Ministers realise past mistakes.

I'm now working on a major project thinking about long term NHS reform, and my colleagues and I will publish our ideas next summer.

Even in these early stages, our analysis shows two basic points. First, Britain has much fewer health professionals than many equivalent countries - whether it is doctors, nurses, midwives or other specialists. Second, Britain spends much less on health than many other countries - whether one analyses public spending alone, or the combination of private and public cash.

As I argued at the election, you can't get something for nothing.