I'm sure Johnathan's a nice man but he's no policies beyond motherhood-n-apple-pie. Nothing oven ready.
If you were to 'do Labour's health policy', what would you write? What could Labour do that requires no, or minimal legislative changes and no great slug of money up front?
Tough ask? No...
Of course, we have to deal with the money. The economy is likely to be stalled so a tapered deal would seem sensible.
Commit to restoring NHS funding to the EU average by 2023. That might give them three years to get from about 6.3% to around 9%. Doable.
How about this...
.....take the money for the NHS from National Insurance; rebadge it the 'NHS Insurance Fund'. Labour would have to reduce personal and business tax to balance it.
The advantage; shifting it takes the malevolent Treasury from the equation and would still allow politicians to chase the grail of reducing headline taxes. NHS funding would be separate and transparent.
As NI contributions come from individuals and employers; where companies make a determined, demonstrable effort to keep their staff fitter, contributions could be reduced by the 'healthy workplace premium'.
That's the headline; now let's look under the bonnet.
Close four out of five CCGs. Without repealing Lansley's loopy-laws, they have to stay, so the best we can do is emasculate them... force them to merge.
How? Easy; cap their management costs to one fifth of what they are now. That forces them together. Re-badge them; Cooperative Care Groups. Changes the tone.
As we leave the EU the market testing and contracting palaver goes out of the window.
Scrap commissioning, create a discretion but no presumption, to market test, where locally it looks to be of benefit.
Leave STPs in place but reduce their number to 10. No big problem. Expecting all 44 to work is a pipe-dream.
Have the remaining STPs chaired by Local Government chief officers; drive greater integration with Social Care.
Devolve health-care responsibility to them around KPIs developed to reflect the specific public health needs of their communities; hold them to account for progress.
Have a massive, meaningful push to get nurses back to working in the NHS; free, tailored retraining packages, free childcare, free use of public transport. Approach them with personal phone calls and open days. Hire a company to do it. Pay them by results.
Have a 3 month, national inquiry into doctors training.
Can we make it shorter, a better experience for the trainees? Dump the 'junior doctor' epithet. Can we have levels of training? Does it have to be progressive and based on the assumption everyone wants to be a consultant?
Get Lord Carter of Bog-Roll back to produce a less labyrinthine report. Give us 20 things to benchmark, publish and put a reducing cap on non-pay spend. Let Trusts sort it out.
Make the NHS the employer everyone wants to work for. Child-care, canteens open 24-7, host on-line deliveries at work, discount purchases, lifestyle support, wi-fi, rest lounges, hairdressing, chiropody and free massage.
Make Prop-Co, or what ever it's called these days, earn their corn; create special terms for health workers; co-ownership, health-worker mortgages, no-deposit funding.
Close the CQC it hasn't improved quality, costs a fortune and demotivates all concerned; recognise technology takes us beyond the clip-board era.
We can, now, answer the question; 'how did we do today', by plugging into data and key indicators, measurable in real time, with the use of technology we can all see.
Pay and train family members as carers, to look after the frail elderly at home. Pay net of tax, provide respite.
Create tax-sweet savings bonds for whole families to pay into; syndicating the costs of care for frail elderly relatives. If, when the time comes, there is a residual in the bond allow it to be used, tax free, for education and house purchase for younger members of the family.
Introduce binding Citizens' Juries to speed up consultation procedures. STPs will be stranded, high-and-dry without some new rules to make reconfiguration happened faster.
Good ideas?
Well, remember, the Tories could do all this, next week... if they wanted to.
