As health secretary Andrew Lansley casts around for ways to save money, perhaps he could take a leaf out of his Scottish counterpart’s book and ditch physical visits to NHS hospitals for virtual ones. The very marvellous Shetland News (motto: "great is the truth and it will prevail") reports that Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon put off plans to visit the island on Wednesday, "instead arriving via videolink to hold sessions with the health board, as well as patient groups, staff and clinicians as part of the service’s annual review."
NHS Shetland "passed with flying colours" and board chair Ian Kinniburgh described his virtual visit as "a very positive experience." Still, there might be a downside to this otherwise sensible use of IT. In the last bout of sustained NHS austerity, the only time some hospitals got painted or even cleaned was when a minister visited.