With a likely cost of £4 billion, the Health and Social Care Bill has all the hallmarks of an avoidable policy fiasco

This week sees the release of a highly critical report from the cross-party Health Select Committee on the Health Minister, Andrew Lansley’s proposals to reorganise the NHS. The Committee’s Chairman, the former Health Secretary, Stephen Dorrell, said that the NHS should focus on achieving efficiencies rather than on management upheaval. Patrick Dunleavy argues that the proposed NHS reorganization will be a policy disaster for the government, which may end up costing up to £4billion – 1/5th of the amount needed to be saved by the NHS through efficiency gains.