Edwina Hart and the local health board

My first response to the news that Edwina Hart wants to reduce the number of local health boards (currently based on local authority boundaries) was that this was a typical Labour move towards centralisation. It wasn't clear to me that it would reduce the incidence of patients being "lost in the gaps".

Siobhan Mclelland's considered view, based on experience, is probably more accurate, though: "She's going to do what politicians always do when they come into the health service... they reorganise structure as a proxy for making real changes."

And, as always, a reorganisation would soak up money which could be better spent.

Why not allow the NHS in Wales to evolve to suit the needs of its users?

- Frank Little