When was the Last Time a Health Minister Lost in Court?

Sometimes, just sometimes, something happens to give you hope. Today has been a huge win for the NHS and a shot across the bows for would be privatisers. Lewisham hospital campaigners won their case at court, which stated that Jeremy Hunt had acted illegally by attempting to downgrade Lewisham A&E. The rationale behind this was that it was being done because a neighbouring trust, South London Healthcare Trust, was in deficit. Two things can be taken from this.

1. The devolving of the health secretary's duty to provide healthcare backfired on Hunt today. The key element in the judge's ruling, in his own words were, "I considered that it was the absence of support from the local GP commissioners which constituted an additional reason why the decision of the Secretary of State cannot stand."

2.  This means that it may be possible to use GP commissioning against the privatisers. It remains to be seen what is going to happen to the rebellious GPs who would not give their consent to this, but it means that the fight for the NHS is not over, and we could be looking at the health equivalent of a guerrilla war, trust by trust. It vindicates Dr No's surmisings that if the rank and file GPs refused to cooperate, the government could not win.

3. We are fighting a new kind of media war. The BBC and others did the usual 'la-la-la-nothing-to-see-here' rubbish which we have become used to over the past three years. The health news today was completely dominated by an article on assisted suicide and yet another article on Stafford. I have no objection to either, but when was the last time a health secretary or any cabinet secretary defeated in court? The Beeb previously ignored a 30 000 strong march of protestors through London about Lewisham. But here's the important point. 38 Degrees funded this court action. And this means that those of us fighting for the NHS have found a way round the problem of all the placemen that the government put in the Royal Colleges and other institutions. It is possible for those of us so minded, to act together and get a result without having to go through the colleges or any of the normal channels. And a result can be got without help from the Beeb. A new frontier has opened via the net and the government is going to be hard pushed to fight it.

Health politics has just become interesting again...