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Radical plans to scrap the NHS targets culture, reduce red tape, give patients the power to decide how they should be treated, and establish a long term basis for the health service to grow and improve, have been launched by the Conservatives.
A policy paper unveiled by Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley proposes handing day to day control of the NHS to an independent board, and putting senior doctors in charge of local budgets with power to decide how the money is spent – but who could see their salaries reduced if poor service is delivered to patients.
And patients will be allowed to secure treatment at their hospital of choice, whether in the public or private sector, as long as it delivers care at or below the NHS cost.
Speaking at the white paper launch, Mr Lansley highlighted low morale among NHS staff, disillusionment among patients, and the refusal of Government ministers refuse to take responsibility for decision making, despite the way their top-down style of management results in five new directives being received by medical professionals every day.
And calling on incoming Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown to adopt the Conservative blueprint, Mr Lansley declared: “The NHS needs a clear, long-term constitution: one which entrenches NHS core principles – and we commit to that; which stops the pointless organisational changes – we will do that; which takes decisions close to patients – we promise that; which lets healthcare professionals use their judgement in providing care to patients; which gives patients personal choice and control over their own care, and gives the public locally a voice over service quality and service planning.”
He stated: “We need a service where the Government and Parliament set the framework, determine the overall resources, agree the objectives and outcomes which need to be met, but don’t try to interfere in the day-to-day decisions about patient care.”
Mr Lansley promised a structure in which those who commission services and use NHS budgets to purchase services on behalf of patients, are separate from those who provide hospital and community health services.
“This means the NHS isn’t controlled by vested interests. The NHS Board will represent patient and public interests; and it will create powerful incentives for healthcare organisations – publicly owned and independent – to deliver greater quality and efficiency, which will benefit from a structure of independent regulation, which enables investment for more capacity and competitive incentives to deliver efficiency and quality,” he explained.
Promising legislation later in the year, Lansley declared: “Labour’s obsession with targets is a triumph of ideology over experience. Targets haven’t delivered. For every target met – and many haven’t been met – there are many other aspects of care which have deteriorated. Patients don’t want to see shorter waiting times traded off for higher infection rates.
“We have to focus on outcomes and the result of treatment: how well are patients getting back to normal life; whether they are living without disability, or painful conditions. Tony Blair’s ambition was to spend as much as other countries in Europe; our ambition is for our health outcomes to be among the best in Europe.”