The Government sought to regain the initiative over the NHS yesterday by announcing another review.

It was heralded by Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, as “unprecedented”, and will be conducted by Sir Ara Darzi, a distinguished surgeon who has been drafted into the Department of Health as a junior minister.

The main aim of the review seems to be to win over NHS staff to the reform agenda, but critics are interpreting it as a sign of weakness.

Mr Johnson promised that the review would be different from the one two years ago that led to the White Paper Our Health, Our Care. He acknowledged that staff morale was low and affecting the public’s perception of the NHS.

“We’ve put a lot of money in, but that hasn’t led to a lot of happy bunnies,” he said. “If there’s a problem with morale, it’s our responsibility, and it’s our responsibility to put it right. The bit that has gone wrong is taking the public with us.”

Sir Ara, who will travel round the country gathering information, has been given four tasks:

* Putting clinical decisions at the centre of NHS care;

* Improving patient care, particularly for those with long-term and life-threatening conditions;

* Making care more accessible and convenient;

* Establishing a vision for the next decade based “less on central direction and more on patient control”.

His problem will be that the reforms of Tony Blair were not intended to make staff happy, but to change the NHS culture, inctroducing market forces and the private sector. Persuading staff that further reforms are in their interests may be difficult.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Mr Johnson said that Sir Ara’s review represented a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to ensure that a properly resourced NHS is clinically led, patient-centred and locally accountable”. But the announcement provoked a sceptical reaction.

The British Medical Asociation and the Unison union welcomed the review. The pressure group Keep Our NHS Public said that it did not go far enough.

Nick Bosanquet, Professor of Health Policy at Imperial College, London, and consultant director of the Reform think-tank, said: “It is not clear why another review is needed to go over these general issues again which have been well covered in two reviews in the last five years. A year-long review risks damaging delay when practical solutions are needed now.

“Urgent problems include the redefinition of [the Private Finance Initiative] to a more local programme, the need to empower local staff to get value for money and the [removal of] barriers to the involvement of independent sector companies. All these issues need clear action and a way forward in weeks rather than years.”

Andrew Haldenby, director of Reform, said: “This is exactly the wrong moment to kick health policy into the long grass. The evidence is mounting that the Department of Health’s reform drive has lost momentum just as the service’s big funding increases come to an end.

“The focus of government should now be on delivering reform rather than reopening a debate on the direction of policy that was actually resolved years ago.”

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the King’s Fund think-tank, said that the proposed review must be not be a signal to reverse important reforms to the service and that the terms of engagement must be clear. “It is important that the Government does not raise expectations among staff or the public that cannot be met,” he said.

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, told the Commons: “The only thing the Secretary of State seems to have understood is that morale in the NHS is at rock bottom. Where is the autonomy and accountability that the NHS is so calling out for? Where is the leadership and direction that the NHS so badly needs?”

* Mr Johnson also announced another £50 million to help to tackle infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile. This will be used to double the size of the department’s infection improvement team, groups of experts who advise NHS trusts on developing plans to cut infections.

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