Pharma welcomes Hunt to top health job
pharmafile | September 5, 2012 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Andrew Lansley, NHS, NHS reform
The ABPI has used health secretary Andrew Lansley’s demotion at prime minister David Cameron’s first major cabinet reshuffle to restate pharma’s priorities in public health.
As Jeremy Hunt, the former secretary for culture, media and sport, starts his first full day at the Department of Health, ABPI chief executive Stephen Whitehead highlighted medicines pricing, availability and R&D as key issues going forward.
Pharma will continue to work with government “to design a pricing system that provides a good deal for taxpayers, whilst ensuring a healthy and productive environment for companies to research and develop the medicines of the future”, Whitehead said.
But Hunt’s challenge would be to ensure patients receive the latest treatments, because people are still not able to access many of the most innovative drugs available elsewhere in Europe, he added.
Taking over the new role, Hunt said “It’s a huge task, the greatest privilege of my life” – and his in-tray will certainly be bulging as he seeks to deal with major structural change in the NHS and intense financial pressure on services.
After nearly a decade on health, both in opposition and in the top job, Lansley becomes leader of the House of Commons, responsible for arranging government business in the lower house.
Lansley’s central role in pushing through the Health and Social Care Act against huge opposition from health professionals made him a divisive figure, although Whitehead offered “my sincerest thanks for Andrew Lansley’s tireless work”.
Not everyone was so fulsome in their praise for the outgoing health secretary. Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nurses, said: “In challenging times for the health service, the RCN has not seen eye to eye with Andrew Lansley on the government’s health reforms.”
The British Medical Association, a thorn in Lansley’s side over the changes wrought by the Health and Social Care Act, issued a cautious statement saying it was looking forward “to working with Mr Hunt on the many pressing issues facing our health service”.
BMA council chair Mark Porter said: “The appointment of a new health secretary provides a fresh opportunity for doctors and government to work together to improve patient care and deal with the many challenges facing the NHS.”
The RCN also said it was keen to work with Hunt, although Carter warned that the need to save £20 billion from across the NHS in England, pressure on staff and waiting lists, public health issues and the spectre of regional pay would require considerable attention.
Yet while Lansley was undoubtedly a controversial figure, Hunt is also tainted by his recent brushes with the ministerial code and the perceived closeness of his relationship with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation at a time when Hunt was overseeing its proposed takeover of BSkyB.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: “The NHS was supposed to be the Prime Minister’s No 1 priority. Swapping one failed minister with poor judgment for another is a strange way to show that.”
In a statement, Labour said: “Jeremy Hunt, the man who broke the ministerial code and failed to stand up to News Corporation, is now in charge of the NHS, our most cherished national institution. This won’t change David Cameron’s policy of continuing with a massive top-down NHS reorganisation.”
Of more than passing interest to doctors is that Hunt has also backed the use of homeopathy on the NHS in a 2007 vote and voted in 2008 for the abortion time limit to be halved to 12 weeks.
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