Today's BBC Radio 4 World At One interview with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt sends three unambiguous messages, two of which were certainly intentional.

Roses are red,
Stalin is too.
Love the NHS?
Comrade Sir David's watching you!

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's speech to the Reform conference yesterday was a well-delivered mixture of the thoughtful and the analytically confused.

Presentationally, Hunt gives good speech, as both this and his presentation at the Kings Fund's annual conference last November showed. The 'not being Andrew Lansley' effect remains evident as a plus.

......................................................................

Shadow health minister Liz Kendall - speech to "The New NHS' Reform conference 12 February 2013

......................................................................

Click here for details of 'Francis is coming. Look busy!', the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

......................................................................

It’s a week since Sir Robert Francis published his report on the failings at Mid Staffordshire Hospital.

Courtesy of the DH website, here is the text of Health Secretary Jeremy hunt's speech to 'The New NHS' conference held yesterday by Reform.

......................................................................

Click here for details of 'Francis is coming. Look busy!', the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

From Hansard, today's statement in the House of Commons on social care funding.

......................................................................

Click here for details of 'Francis is coming. Look busy!', the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

......................................................................

The identity of one of the five high-mortality trusts whose investigations were announced in the wake of Francis trusts didn't surprise me even slightly.

The reason is that a couple of years ago, I was invited to visit its chief executive and director of communications to discuss their media and communications strategy.

......................................................................

"This is not something which can be blamed simplistically on one policy or another, or on failings on the part of one or even a group of individuals. There was an institutional culture in which the business of the system was put ahead of the priority that should have been given to the protection of patients and the maintenance of public trust in the service.

The Francis Public Inquiry into Mid-Staffs will publish tomorrow. Prime Minister David Cameron will respond in the Commons.

Will it make any difference?

......................................................................

Click here for details of 'Francis is coming. Look busy!', the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

......................................................................

NHS Comrade In Chief Sir David Nicholson outed himself as a one-man Salt 'n' Pepa of NHS management, when he told the audience of the National Voices conference today "let's talk about sex".

OK, almost true. What he apparently said, according to Twitter reportage (which is usually pretty accurate) was "I really want to make patient leadership sexy".

......................................................................