The coalition has wasted no time in announcing its policy on health for the forthcoming parliament. Here are some of the key features which may interest those of you attending interviews soon:
- Primary care trusts will be partially elected to give patients a strong voice locally, with the remainder of the board appointed by local authorities. But the chief executive and principal officers will be appointed by the secretary of state on the advice of the new commissioning board.
- The board will allocate NHS resources and provide commissioning guidelines. The Conservatives’ original proposal was for a strong board that would oversee the whole of commissioning, a role that looked to be stronger than just appointing people and issuing guidelines. So that proposal has obviously been watered down as part of the coalition agreement.
- GPs will be given a stronger role in commissioning, though for the moment it is not clear as to whether this will be simply be an advisory role or actually a budget-holding role. The government will “strengthen the power of GPs as partients’ expert guides through the health system by enabling them to commission care on their behalf.
- Development of a 24-hour urgent care service in England, “including GP out-of-hours services”. The GP contract will be renegotiated and an incentive system will be implemented to improve primary care in disadvantaged areas.
- Promise to fund some cancer drugs that Nice has turned down.
- Promise that patients will be free to register with any GP, not just their local one.
- A number of health quangos will be cut (though it is not clear which).
- “Give every patient the power to choose any healthcare provider that meets NHS standards, within NHS prices”.
In addition, the health secretary has put a halt to current plans to change the NHS in London and issued the following statements:
“As I promised before the election, I am calling a halt to NHS London’s reconfiguration of NHS services.
“A top-down, one-size fits all approach will be replaced with the devolution of responsibility to clinicians and the public, with an improved focus on quality.
“It will be centred on a sound evidence base, support from GP commissioners and strengthened arrangements for public and patient engagement, including local authorities.”
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