Blair advisor Simon Stevens appointed new NHS chief executive Negotiations are currently underway about pay for NHS staff, with ministers waging war on "antiquated and unfair" systems of automatic pay rises, which give some staff up to nine per cent a year. While ministers have been deeply critical of Labour's legacy on health, accusing Andy Burnham, their most recent Health Secretary, of a catalogue of failings in its stewardship of the NHS, they have repeatedly praised Blair's attempts to reform services, in the earlier period of their administration. In a speech to the Tory party conference earlier this month, Mr Hunt highlighted the efforts of Mr Blair and Mr Milburn to increase the use of the independent sector to reduce waiting times. However, Mr Stevens is also associated with the introduction of NHS targets, and helped create the key plan which brought them in. An NHS "target culture" which have been repeatedly attacked by the Coalition as playing a part in scandals such as that at Mid-Staffordshire, where hundreds more patients died than would have been expected as nurses came under pressure to move patients and manipulate data to ensure targets appeared to be hit. The appointment was made by NHS England, but the appointment was endorsed by Mr Hunt. David Cameron is also understood to have been keen to see Mr Stevens take the job, which starts in April. Mr Hunt said: "Simon has an extraordinary reputation in the UK and abroad as a reformer and an innovator, and we are lucky to have someone of his calibre doing such a vital role. His passion for our universal health service free at the point of use goes back many years, but he will add international expertise as we face the challenges ahead. I also think his decision to volunteer a reduction in his pay shows admirable determination to lead from the front on the issue of high pay.