The NHS is a brand. It is an incredibly powerful brand due to the emotion it invokes in people.
There are more than one million people that use NHS services in England every 36 hours, and those outcomes for each of those outcomes are far more likely to be positive ones than negative. This is the reason why the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, is nearly always seen wearing an NHS badge at public appearances. It is also the reason that private companies and social enterprises are happy to use the NHS brand with or without their own brand logo.
This blog title immediately brought to mind the Houses of Parliament. Not surprising, but the next logical thought should have been the Prime Minister or some well-known MP.
However a fictional politician came to mind, Aidan Hoynes from the BBC drama The Politician's Husband [1]. Hoynes’ failed attempts at persuasion – and more often manipulation, had significant consequences that adversely affected his political and personal life. He is an example for all of us, and I will explain why later.
Whilst waiting to catch a train from Edinburgh to London, I overheard a pair of commuters talking about George Osborne’s spending review. More specifically they were discussing whether certain cabinet ministers would be jealous of Jeremy Hunt, heading a department that had had its funds ring-fenced. The current discussions regarding expenditure on healthcare are age-old.