UK healthcare bodies in pre-election firing line:

Healthcare is at the centre of the UK's early pre-election parries between the government and shadow parties over the economy. The Conservative opposition yesterday announced that it would abolish a number of Department of Health bodies, including the National Patient Safety Agency and NHS Strategic Health Authorities, to help cut public spending by £35bn and reduce taxation by £4bn, while still investing in necessary services. The plans were, however, disparaged by the government and the Liberal Democrat party, in the belief that the services of the bodies involved are not expendable and that their restructuring would not prove as cost-effective as they claim.