Editorial: New health minister with not-so-new idea.(Editorial)

Once again in the NHS we seem on the brink of the triumph of ideology over practicality. This time it is the fate of the NHS in London that is in the balance.

New health minister Professor Sir Ara Darzi was previously commissioned to review the state of the health service in London. While his report raises many important points about the variable standard of care available to patients in the capital, it also contains proposals tantamount to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

On the face of it there are sensible proposals such as access to diagnostic and outpatient services in the community and extended hours (fine if properly funded). But that is …