BRITAIN:Labour will place health back at the centre of its battle with the Conservatives, Gordon Brown signalled yesterday as he promised initiatives to win back the confidence of patients and National Health Service (NHS) staff.
Three days after launching his long-awaited bid to become prime minister, Mr Brown, who has pledged to make the NHS an "immediate priority", suggested care could be improved by providing more walk-in centres, ensuring better out-of-hours access to GPs, and allowing pharmacies to carry out procedures such as blood pressure tests.
Mr Brown faces the difficult task of reassuring both the public and NHS staff, who have been alienated by a series of major reforms under Tony Blair. Polls suggest the public now trust the Tories more than Labour on healthcare.
David Cameron told the Conservative conference last year that his priority could be summed up "in three letters: NHS".
But a Brown ally insisted last night: "If the Tories want to fight the next election on health: bring it on. The refreshment of the policy agenda with Gordon coming in gives us a real opportunity to turn it into a major positive and I am absolutely confident we will."
The results of Labour's leadership and deputy leadership ballots will be announced at a leadership conference on June 24th. At this stage, Mr Blair will be replaced as leader but will remain prime minister until June 27th.
- (Guardian service)