In the time it takes you to read this article the Government will squander about £10,000 on a pointless, deeply unpopular top-down reorganisation of the NHS.
They promised not to impose it but are now doing so despite failing to win a mandate at the last election.
The cost of this reorganisation is soaring by about a million quid each day and could reach between £2-3bn at the same time as the Government insists on the NHS finding £20bn of savings in the coming four years.
Worse, this rushed reorganisation runs counter to expert reports and surveys which show that the NHS is popular and successful and easily beats the privatised American health system in efficiency.
Even worse, they are rushing to change the NHS having promised to listen to such concerns. They have merely been playing for time.
They flooded the Commons with a blizzard of more than a thousand amendments, giving little time for proper scrutiny because they wanted to get it done and dusted quickly and avoid a dust up at this week's Lib Dem conference.
Sadly, for all their bravado, the Lib Dems have either failed to persuade the Tories or have fallen far short of their wishes.
The coalition Government's lopsided argument for dogmatically proceeding with change is also in stark contrast to the kid glove treatment offered to the bankers whose irresponsible and greedy lending habits got us into the mess in the first place.
Reform is urgent if we are to avoid a repeat, but the Government has agreed to implement such changes in eight years instead of more urgently.
It used to be a Conservative watchword that if something isn't broke it shouldn't be fixed.
We now have a health system that is working well being shaken up and a banking system that is manifestly not working that is generously being given time to heal itself. Low-paid health workers will pay the price, but well-heeled bankers will keep their bonuses.
This is also in addition to spending cuts that are too far and too fast and which may choke growth.
Although the NHS is popular and efficient that does not mean that we should be complacent. It is a huge service that always needs to make sure it uses our money as wisely as possible.
It is also increasingly subject to the pressures of demographic and medical advances. Put simply, more of us live longer and survive once-fatal diseases thanks to medical treatments and technologies that put great strain on the NHS.
We need to get more bang for our buck, but that must be done in the fairest way possible.
When the Government was forced to retreat on its radical plans some months back the hope was that their approach would be improved. Many changes didn't even require legislation.
Sadly, the policy has remained bad or become even worse. I will give just a few examples.
The Government says that "any qualified provider" can compete for health contracts. The trouble, as we have seen in so many privatised services, is that conniving companies can put in "loss leaders" to win a contract, build a monopoly or bigger market share and then put up their prices when the public purse is less able to resist. So much for choice.
The Government also seeks to lift the "private patient income cap" which restricts the number of private patients who can be treated with NHS facilities.
This leaves open the very strong possibility that a hospital, knowing its income is falling behind as it nears the end of the financial year, will ramp up the number of private operations and send NHS patients to the back of a growing queue.
Detailed arguments have been made by health professionals and unions. Their concerns have been brushed aside. Sadly, ordinary people will pay a high price for such breathtaking arrogance.
Newcastle Chronicle and Journal
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