ITC programme fails

BLAIR'S GOVERNMENT believes in the market but the failure of some of its big initiatives in the health must be testing his faith. The Department of Health looks set to announce that much of its private 'independent treatment centre' (ITC) programme - where privately run units carry out routine operations for the NHS - is being abandoned a year after it invited providers to bid for the lucrative deals.

Earlier this year, seven of the 24 schemes in the 'second-wave' elective surgery contract were axed and the rest delayed by up to a year. It looks like the government has now backed down from its pledge to guarantee the £550 million a year value of the schemes to the private suppliers.