Final Word

Here's one, final extract from the Private Eye's excellent analysis and commentary on the Francis Report - into the 1200 unnecessary deaths at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust.

"Why Nicholson won't go"

"(Sir David) "Nicholson should be held to account over Mid Staffs, but he was carrying out the orders of his political masters. The political imperative was always to bury the bad news with the patients, silence dissent and deliver only good news to Downing Street.

As Sir Ian Kennedy observed in Bristol, too much power in the NHS is concentrated in the hands of too few people, which is both unhealthy and dangerous.

David Nicholson is seen as indespensible both by those on the political left, who trust the former Communist Party member not to betray his roots and sell the NHS off to the market, and those on the right because he sticks to budget.

His predecessor Sir Nigel Crisp resigned over a £600 million overspend (less than 1 percent of the NHS budget at the time).

He should step down, get fit - and sit on a local Healthwatch board to learn how powerless the patient voice is. Then he should do what the polticians most fear: publish his memoirs. 

Over the years Nicholson has enacted reforms to the NHS he clearly thought were bollocks; but he has collected a very decent salary (£260,000 a year), pension, expenses and a knighthood for his troubles. Now the fixer has been found out, he could finally blow the lid on the damage constant political meddling does to the health service. But does he have the courage?"

I have to say I doubt it somehow - because anyone who goes from being a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain to become a Knight of the Realm - has already decided which side his bread is buttered on.

So live in hope by all means - but don't hold your breath.