Patrícia Hewitt

A nova ministra da saúde de Blair, é vista como a política brilhante capaz de dar continuidade à reforma do NHS: criação dos hospitais fundação e do mercado do NHS, contratação de um grande número de fornecedores privados.

O percurso da nova ministra será objecto, por certo, da maior atenção e análise por parte de Correia de Campos e da sua equipa.

With contracts already announced, the private sector is now set to gain at least £6.6bn of business from the NHS over the next five to six years.
Hewitt had the courage to confirm these promises in public at the NHS Employers conference in her first week in office—and take some fierce criticism from union representatives there that the money should instead go into clearing NHS deficits. And yes, she said, if NHS hospital services cannot compete, then her view—like John Reid's—is that they may close. "I am not going to force patients to choose services they don't want."
The challenge is formidable—to take NHS staff with her into a world that will be even more challenging to some of its institutions and many of its employees than even the past few years have been. It will test her analytical abilities and her presentational skills, as nothing has before. This time she is really in the spotlight.(link)