In the year that the NHS turns 60 it absolutely destroys me inside to watch the Government pick it to bits piece by piece. Yes, hospitals should be accountable to patients. After all the NHS is a Government service run for the patients. However, to suggest a cut in funding to those hospitals/trusts that are not performing well is nothing other than delusional. How will a cut in funding help to rectify the problems that caused these low satisfaction ratings. Why are Gordon Brown and the Labour party so fixated on targets and figures? Surly the only figures that matter in the NHS are how many lives are saved and improved for the better? Simple changes in the law to regulate pharmaceutical companies would help free up more money for the NHS. One of the main reasons drugs are so expensive is the long patent periods pharmaceutical companies can have on their new developments. While they have this patent no other drugs company can produce the drug. Thu, a Pharma company has a monopoly over a drug and as such can sell it for as high a price as possible. Yes, Pharma companies have put a lot of investment and time into the development of the drug (it is very costly), but they shouldn't be allowed to make exorbitant profits out of it. Regulating them in a number of ways might help. 1) Shortening the patent times to something more reasonable (e.g. patent expires once the money spent on development has been matched in income) 2) Capping what pharmaceutical companies can charge while they have a patent. Business might not like this, but a LABOUR government is not supposed to be about doing what business wants....it is supposed to be about SOCIAL JUSTICE. Regulating the pharmaceutical industry more will not be popular, but it certainly will fit in with social justice. The two reforms mentioned above will decrease the cost of drugs which will free up money which can be spent on other areas. There are a lot of other things that can be done to reform the NHS, but if I start on them this comment will be far too long!