ABHI Brexit Update: Panto Season is Over
And so, the pantomime season has ended. And, despite what felt like the overwhelming will of the hacks, especially, it seems to me, the over-exposed commentators of the BBC, for it not to be so, it ended with the Conservative Party still having a leader and our country still having a Prime Minister. Is it me or does she seem to be warming to the fight and getting people behind her?
She was certainly resolute in her Brexit stance, Chequers is the deal on the table but we are comfortable with a no deal etc, etc. Mind you, it is worth looking at the footage of that speech again. Each time she mentions the no deal bit she looks, not at the autocue or at the audience, but her eyes roll towards the top of her head and fix on the ceiling. Now some of you can probably remember the body language bit of your initial sales training course so you can remind me what that means, but I bet it is interesting.
Boris came, laid down a marker for something or another at some time in the future and went, doubtless recognising that the work ahead in the immediate future is for the grown-ups. And that is about all that is worth saying about the party conference season, aside from the fact that the decision not to spend your money on over-priced hotels trying to gain insights that do not exist, was a good one.
Now if you were worrying that Christmas was coming along a bit too quickly, then it is perhaps worth reminding ourselves of the timetable for Brexit. In less than two weeks the Summit meeting of EU leaders, long identified as the one by which we need to have agreed a deal, takes place. Except we will not have agreed a deal, so expect a “sufficient progress has been made” statement and they will all be back in November to try again. I am not convinced they will do it then either, but we can cross that bridge when it exists. The PM then comes back with whatever deal she can get and starts the not inconsiderable task of getting it through Parliament, once, that is, everyone is sure about what is being voted on. I will not speculate on what deal will come back, but it will have to involve some form of customs union to protect the Irish border. The question then is how palatable that kind of arrangement, probably one with no end date in sight, will be to either side of the house.
Meanwhile back in the real world, one with real hospitals, real procurement people and real patients who really like your technologies, we inch ever forward. That letter, with advice on contingency planning, promised by the Secretary of State in August should be with you next week, with further guidance in November, and we are hoping that individual NHS organisations will ease the burden on you to detail your own plans. If you are not getting the dialogue you think you should with DHSC, please let me know, along with the names of any individual NHS organisations whose demands on you to reveal your own contingency plans seem unreasonable.
