What would you expect, 51 days out from the election? A line up of… Andy Burnham (Labour shadow health), Christina McAnea (Unison), Charlotte Leslie (Tory MP, health select committee), Max Pemberton (doctor and journalist) and Steve Melton (CEO Circle)… repeating the same old tired campaigning dogma (and you can play join the dots): more money for staff, tax the rich, stop privatisation, demand side first (does that mean us, ‘people’?), stop bringing in all the “crappiest” bits from other countries, and outsourcing works?

Yup, it was there in spades for the first half hour, carefully crafted and dynamically presented, but there all the same, as it arguably should be. Then it happened, ideology began to give way to consensus, all orbiting the bright ‘NHS is the best and most effective system’ star. There was even an almost unanimous call to step beyond party politics (the old cynically brand man in me knows this plays well with voters, but I do believe in fairies, I do).

Is consensus good? Not when it’s narrow and lacks imagination. Not when it lacks perspective. Not when it only explores differences in execution. And not when it lacks the brutal sensitivity that’s needed not just to face challenges but to see into their heart and tackle them.

It feels almost that the ramifications of cuts to social care, the aging population, the complexity of treatments and so on are now so well aired that they’re wallpaper, a backdrop to posturing.

Up until we, the audience, introduced them, there was no talk around the wider issues. Nothing around changes in people’s responsibilities to look after their health, from long term lifestyle to stopping the third of A&E admissions caused by avoidable accidents. No mentions, actually a complete rejection for three of the speakers, of the vital role of charities and volunteering organisations as partners in wider care and health. No thought on how technology can help delivery, as it is in so many poorer countries around the world. And so many more points.

But maybe that is itself a point, people from all perspectives ‘co-producing solutions’; something that I’m an avid cheerleader for.  

Of course it’s a tough one, there’s no one simple solution. And having worked in health and social care, where it’s as inspiring as it is perplexing, I’ll step away from the hypocritical grandstanding and get on with supporting the people whose day to day work makes the real difference.