INJECTION FOR NHS INCLUDES GP SURGERIES AT WEEKENDS
AZG Armenian Daily #185
11/10/2007
Healthcare
PM unveils initiatives as report by surgeon-minister urges big changes
Gordon Brown yesterday unveiled a clutch of populist NHS reforms
to increase hospital safety and improve patients’ access to GPs,
presenting them as the first fruits of a fundamental review of
healthcare in England by the surgeon-minister Lord Darzi.
The prime minister’s pre-election pleasers included a plan for at least
half the nation’s GP surgeries to open during evenings or weekends,
which he described as "an immediate aim". He also promised to fund 150
extra health centres in easily-accessible places across the country,
open seven days a week from 8am to 8pm.
Mr Brown said the battle to combat MRSA will extend next year to
testing all patients arriving for planned surgery, with a hotline
for NHS staff whistleblowers to report risks. The initiatives
are expected to cost hundreds of millions of pounds a year, but
Alan Johnson, the health secretary, refused to disclose the amount
until the comprehensive spending review is announced on Monday. He
said the review would bring "real-terms growth" for the health
service. Ministers are also understood to be hoping for a big cash
injection into mental health therapies and adult social care.
Lord Darzi, the leading cancer surgeon chosen by Mr Brown to be a
health minister responsible for reshaping NHS services, published an
interim report to the prime minister calling for fundamental changes
in the NHS.
He said small incremental improvements were not enough to satisfy
rising public expectations. "Alternatively we can choose to be
ambitious and set out a clear vision for a world class NHS focused
relentlessly on improving the quality of care … Only this approach
enables us to deliver the kind of personalised care we all expect."
Lord Darzi presented his findings to the 72 leading doctors, nurses and
healthcare professionals he has recruited to work out local solutions
in the nine English regions outside London. Their proposals will
emerge in his final report in May or June.
This timetable would leave voters in any early general election
uncertain about whether the government is preparing for a big round of
closures of key hospital departments including maternity, paediatric
and emergency services. In a review of NHS services in London, Lord
Darzi said in July: "The days of the district general hospital seeking
to provide all services to a high enough standard are over." It was
not safe or economic to treat patients with complex medical conditions
in dozens of local hospitals with inadequate expertise or equipment,
he added.
But yesterday he said the London proposals might not be suitable for
other parts of England. The NHS in the capital had been well behind
other areas in modernising hospital services, making the solutions
to its problems more drastic. "The bigger challenge outside London is
the provision of healthcare in some of the more rural areas," he said.
Mr Johnson said there would be no moratorium on change pending
Lord Darzi’s final report. But he would refer any closure proposals
submitted by health authorities and trusts to an independent panel.
The interim report included a batch of quick-fix proposals, which
were all accepted by the prime minister. They included 100 new GP
practices in the areas of England with the least number of doctors,
where about 900 GPs, nurses and healthcare assistants will offer
"an innovative range of services, including extended opening hours".
Traditional GP practices will be invited to compete with private
sector corporations to win these contracts. To help people choose a
GP and switch if they are unhappy with the service, the government
will publish data about each practice on an official website.
Mr Johnson said he wanted negotiations with the British Medical
Association to secure longer surgery opening hours. He did not want to
tear up the GPs’ contract which has increased family doctors’ earnings
by about 25% since 2004. "We are not giving up on the contract and
we are not issuing any threats," he said.
Richard Vautrey, deputy chairman of the BMA’s GPs committee, said
doctors wanted to sit down with ministers to work out how to tailor
services to meet patients’ needs. He said: "It is important to remember
that one size does not fit all when you are talking about healthcare."
Lord Darzi also proposed MRSA screening of all patients admitted
to hospital for planned operations from next year and all emergency
admissions as soon as practicable within the next three years. The
aim would be to stop patients bringing MRSA into the hospital from
outside. There will be legislation to give health inspectors the power
and money to inspect every hospital every year to ensure compliance
with the hygiene regulations. NHS trusts found wanting will be subject
to hefty fines.
Lord Darzi instructed David Nicholson, the NHS chief executive, to
begin work on drawing up an NHS constitution to put the service "at
greater distance from the day to day thrust of the political process".
There will also be a review of the health service’s ?12bn programme
to update IT and a drive to encourage the NHS to accelerate the pace
of medical innovation.
David Cameron described the proposals as "another blueprint for cuts."
The Tory leader told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: "Lord Darzi has said
the days of the district general hospital are over. What that means
is, up and down the country, hospitals are going to be threatened with
cutbacks and closures like the ones we have seen over the last year. I
want to stop that. We can stop that, but only if we have an election."
The shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: "Ara Darzi is
a honest man set amongst thieves. He is a trusted clinician who is
being used by Gordon Brown to push through this government’s plan
to downgrade local services across the country despite the fact that
there is no clinical evidence for this." The Liberal Democrat health
spokesman, Norman Lamb, said: "By putting off all decisions on service
changes till next year, Labour can safely go into an election without
the axe of closures hanging over the ballot box."