Health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has signalled a greater role for local authorities in health provision, and even directly-elected PCTs. In a speech to the London School of Economics, Ms Hewitt, widely expected to be dropped in Gordon Brown's reshuffle next week, said: ‘Already we can see local councillors, through overview and scrutiny committees, playing a much fuller part in shaping health services for their area. Increasingly, the partnership involves joint commissioning, joint appointments or pooled budgets. She added: ‘In future, we may see some local PCTs and their residents decide that some PCT board members should be directly elected. But developments like this must not be imposed from above. They should grow organically as the PCT and the council become more confident in their own roles and the co-operation between them.'
