Peter Preston, gullible Labour mouthpiece of the day.
It may be unfashionable to say so, but targets have repeatedly been shown in fact to work
Anyone who has experienced booking a GP appointment before, and after, waiting targets were introduced, will attest to the ingenuity of the public sector (and humans, in general, to be fair) in cheating the gamers. Still, let's bear him out.
And yet, here is a five-year inquiry by the Economic and Social Research Council which shows that, yes, targets do work. And here's a walloping survey from the Nuffield Trust looking at NHS performance in England, where targets still rule the roost, and devolved Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where they don't. And yet again, targets work.
That's the ESCR which, according to its 'About Us' page is ...
... an independent organisation, established by Royal Charter, but receive most of our funding through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
And the Nuffield Trust, whose accounts detail alliances with Labour GOAT, Lord 'I'll say anything for my party' Darzi, and research contracts from the Department of Health.
Yep, forget the experiences of we poor saps who use the NHS, and the demoralised front-liners who continually speak of Labour's bureaucratic obstacles to actually getting the job done.
And forget the human trait of playing the box-ticking game for the express purpose of passing the box-ticking test. The government-funded box checkers have spoken, and their word is indisputable.
It's modern politics. Pay for a flood of government-friendly info and gullible sponges will suck it up without question.
