He is expected to tell the NHS Alliance conference in Manchester today (Tuesday 20 October) that: ‘There is an ever-widening disconnect between the high ideas, the discussions and the resolutions in Whitehall and those who are struggling to deliver their best for patients at the frontline of the NHS.
‘Clinicians, in particular, are too often alienated. Forget leading, far too many are not even engaged. Commissioning, in the sense of radical redesign, is the exception rather than the rule.'
Dr Dixon fears the dangers of a full-blown market. ‘There is a danger that we may go for too much market and render the NHS bankrupt. A free market requires excess capacity. That is expensive.'
