Some of the harshest criticism levelled at New Labour concerns its perceived inability to improve the National Health Service. The public trusted the party that created the NHS to be the architect of its revival. When hospitals were hit by yet more winter chaos and waiting lists continued to grow, there was a sense of anger and betrayal.

Today, however, came genuine evidence that things are getting better in the health service. The nursing recruitment drive has worked. Last year 3,000 extra nursing jobs were created and another 5,000 former nurses have returned to the job or started retraining.

For years poor pay and status have pushed potential nurses into other professions and led to an exodus of those already qualified. Operations are regularly cancelled because of a lack of staff, lengthening waiting lists.

The fact that so many nurses are now joining and rejoining the health service strongly suggests that the Government has succeeded in making the job attractive again. Its inflation-busting pay rises have certainly helped: last year, newly-qualified nurses' pay was raised by 12 per cent, and this year most nurses received a 3.3 per cent rise.

This still leaves their wage packet thinner than most. But it was never just about pay. The lowly status of the profession also hit morale hard.

Now Alan Milburn is addressing this issue. Mr Milburn has so far impressed as Health Secretary, and his plan to shake-up the way doctors and nurses work is another welcome move. Importantly, he aims to give nurses the opportunity to use their skills more effectively by blurring rigid medical role definitions. Allowing nurses to take on responsibility for areas such as chemotherapy and endoscopies, traditionally the doctors' domain, will both reduce patient waiting times and improve nurses' morale.

More staff working more effectively will not cure the health service's ills overnight. But these reforms could take the NHS off the critical list, giving patients and the medical profession hope for its future.

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