Alan Johnson visits Brighton

It was a pleasure to host a visit from Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Health, today. I chaired the event which was attended by over 130 people and around 40 organisations were represented. Alan spoke and took lots of questions on a range of healthcare issues. We heard contributions about birth, breastfeeding, commissioning services, drug and alcohol use, stroke services, assisted suicide, the role of NICE and funding of new drugs, direct payments, predicting the type of healthcare workforce needed for the future (relating to a surplus of physiotherapists) and the prevention of TB. As always at these events, there is so much more to discuss and so many questions to ask but an hour goes quickly so my apologies to those who couldn’t get a question in and thanks very much for coming along – I hope you found the event useful. I hope to be organising more of this kind of event in the future.

This was the last major event for me this year, so may I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tags: Alan Johnson

Posted on December 17, 2008 in Out and About in Brighton.