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May 14 2008
Draft Queen's Speech

The Draft Queen's Speech includes a new NHS Reform Bill to establish an NHS constitution that sets out entitlements to minimum standards of access, quality and safety and also grant patients new rights to obtain information about their care.

Hospital income will be dependent on how well they treat patients, and the bill will include the first NHS constitution.

June 27 2008
Increased role for social enterprises in the NHS

The Prime Minister released a Cabinet Office report today that called for an increased role for nurses in providing community health services. The report also said that these services should be provided through not-for-profit social enterprise companies like a successful pilot in Surrey. More details here.

June 30 2008
Lord Darzi's report - building a personal patient-led NHS

Today Alan Johnson MP, Labour's Health Secretary, announced the results of Lord Darzi's year-long review of the NHS - "High Quality Care For All". The Next Stage Review is part of Labour's mission for a fairer Britain. It builds on the progress made in delivering the vision set out in the NHS Plan and the Government's reform agenda, to identify the way forward for a 21st century NHS which is clinically driven, patient-centred, responsive to local communities, and to deliver consistently high quality of care for everyone.

The Next Stage Review has been a clinically-led local process. Proposals for service changes are being developed and agreed locally, based on the clinical evidence and the needs and preferences of the local community. The Review will:

• Give patients even greater influence over the services they use by guaranteeing fairness, choice and access to the most clinically and cost effective drugs and treatments and ending the so-called "postcode lottery" on new drugs and treatments.
• Make healthcare more personal by ensuring that everyone with a long-term condition has their own personalised care plan and by piloting personal health budgets.
• Create an NHS that helps people to stay healthy by rolling out a new national programme of vascular risk assessment for people aged between 40 and 74, and rewarding family doctors for focusing on prevention and early intervention.
• Raise the standards on quality within the NHS by systematically measuring and publishing information about the quality of care from the frontline up.
• Foster a pioneering NHS by introducing new funds and prizes to support and reward innovation, and developing new best practice tariffs targeted on areas for improvement.
• Empower frontline staff by enabling them to lead and manage their organisations and improving the quality of NHS education and training.

July 1 2008
New NHS Constitution - enshrining the values of the NHS

Secretary of State Alan Johnson, launched a draft NHS Constitution for consultation today. He said:
"This is a momentous point in the history of the NHS. As we approach the 60th anniversary of our health service, it is striking how its founding principles still endure and have resonance for staff, patients and public alike.

"The content of the Constitution was not dreamt up by me or civil servants in Whitehall . It is something that has arisen out of discussions with thousands of NHS staff and patients across the country.

For patients, the Constitution collects together important rights around access to drugs and treatments, health services, information, quality of care and environment, dignity & respect and complaint and redress.

The consultation on the draft NHS Constitution is open until 17 October 2008. You can download copies of the draft Constitution, and information on how to take part in the consultation, from:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_085814

Other Health Pages

Health News 2008

Health News 2007

Commission Work Programme 2007

Health report August 2006

Health report June 2006

Health report January 2006

Commission Work Programme 2006

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