I was speaking to a lawyer friend of mine. He has a passing interest in the NHS, having built his house on the spoils of litigation. Of course he’s been watching the progress or the Bill with great interest. His take on the outcome of it all is interesting.

He’s anticipating an upswing in work on the basis of legal challenges to commissioning decisions. The inherent conflict of interest being, in his words “an open goal” which, even if ultimately unsuccessful is likely to generate some income for the legal profession.

At a meeting I was at the head of a really large drug company was applauding the shift to clinical commissioning. His take ran that UK Plc would be better off as newer drugs would be used by the newer organisations, since the CCGs would have ‘no choice’ but to implement NICE guidance and ‘do the right thing’. Ultimately good for company profits.

Our local council revealed that it has a clear intention to depose the emergent support organisation, forming from PCT dust, as commissioning support of choice. Not only will it be beneficial for the integration agenda , but a nice source of income from an unexpected direction.

So that’s the good news, there is no downside to the Bill.

Unless you are the RCGP, BMA or RCN, but we don’t listen to them because they are a set of self serving interest groups. Yeah, right.