Bob Hudson: Securing health reform’s opportunities will be complex and time consuming White paper risks miring the relationship between councils and the NHS in an impenetrable maze, writes the visiting professor in public policy at the Centre for Health Services Studies at the University of Kent. Amidst many other problems, the world of local government now has a new task – finding its place in the changes arising from the NHS white paper. The proposals are draped around three organising principles: working together and supporting integration; stripping out needless bureaucracy; and enhancing public confidence and accountability. These appear anodyne, but what are the practical implications for local government?