Moderniser Milburn takes over at DoH

Alan Milburn returned to the Department of Health this week as health secretary after the departure of Frank Dobson. Since last December Mr Milburn has been chief secretary to the treasury, but before that he spent 18 months as health minister, promoting change and as a result coming into conflict with the medical profession. In optics he is perhaps best remembered for his work overseeing a programme to crackdown on prescription fraud in the health service. Shortly before his departure from the DoH last year he was outspoken about the detection rates of prescription fraud, and was instrumental in the setting up of the Counter Fraud Services (CFS) department. Mr Milburn worked with Jim Gee, the director of CFS, to establish regional investigation squads to reduce fraud in the Family Practitioner Services and other areas, and publish new estimates on fraudulent activity. It was Mr Milburn who set the target for Mr Gee's department to reduce fraud to 'an absolute minimum' within 10 years. In December last year Mr Milburn spoke out after an Audit Commission report found detected fraud measured &\#163;2.6m in 1997-98, but the Government believed actual losses were more likely to top &\#163;150m. At that point Mr Milburn said the aim was to halve fraud in the health service in four years, and crack down fiercely on those found guilty. 'The aim should be eliminating fraud by designing systems to prevent it happening in the first place,' he said. 'But where it occurs there should be a presumption that its perpetrators will face tough action.' Mr Milburn has risen swiftly in government, and is tipped to be a future prime minister. At 41, he is the youngest member of the cabinet, and is acknowledged to be an ambitious moderniser in the Blairite mode.