THIS Government does humility well. Tony Blair indulges in the occasional bout of hand-wringing. Now party chairman Charles Clarke is doing the same.

Parts of the National Health Service, Mr Clarke admitted in a radio interview, have "gone backwards" since New Labour came to power. There have been "massive improvements" but still the situation was "patchy".

We appreciate Mr Clarke's candour, while acknowledging that he is only telling us what we already knew. Only four out of ten of us are satisfied with the NHS, a survey revealed today.

Far be it from us to imply that Mr Clarke's sudden bout of honesty was prompted by anything other than a desire to give it to us straight. But rarely does a New Labour confession come without an ulterior motive.

The timing of his remarks, so close to Gordon Brown's pre-Budget statement tomorrow, is telling. With hindsight Mr Clarke's words may well be viewed as the start of a subtle campaign to soften us up for tax rises.

Taken at face value, though, his assessment of the state of the NHS is right. Big improvements are under way: the expansion of the eye unit at York District Hospital is one example of how the hike in spending makes a real difference.

But too often, the health service takes two steps forward before being forced to take one back. It is extremely difficult for YDH managers to reduce waiting times when beds are blocked by elderly people who have nowhere to go due to the lack of residential care places.

This continuing crisis identifies the need for a joined-up approach to social and health policy. More importantly, however, it underlines the price of a failure in these policies: untold human misery.

The ministerial vow to do better must be motivated not by statistics, but by a desire to improve lives - like those of the old people in York who have nowhere to go except a hospital bed.

Updated: 10:43 Monday, November 26, 2001