BBC's NHS day

Last week's NHS Day, run by the BBC, was the most revealing event since June's General Election.

Then the Prime Minister told voters to trust him on the NHS. He had his "Ten Year Plan."

On NHS Day last week, however, Mr Blair showed how confused his Government really is on health policy. The truth is, Ministers are not sure what to do.

Health ministers try to manage the whole NHS, from Whitehall. Yet that is proving even more bureaucratic than the Conservatives' "health market".

The Chancellor at the election said higher taxes were not needed to pay for extra NHS resources. Less than a year later, it seems he's changed his mind.

Since the election, every Cabinet Minister has tried to blame public servants for any failures - it's always the fault of the teachers or the doctors or the police. Ministers, of course, never make mistakes.

I don't pretend to have all the answers to the NHS. No-one has.

Yet I do know the NHS cannot be run centrally: responsibility for Europe's largest organisation must be pushed down, closer to the front line.

I do know large amounts of extra cash are needed - as Charles Kennedy said last June, "You can't have something for nothing."

Above all I know, if you demoralise the workforce, a Government can never hope to deliver on election promises of better public services.