National Policy Forum - Your Southeast CLP representatives

Like all policy commissions, the Health Commission has agreed a work programme that sets out the key policy issues for consultation over the year ahead and identifies some of the topical issues and challenges facing the party in government. The programme was reviewed at the first meeting of the NPF in Nottingham in January, and the Commission will now start work on the programme.

Here is the report from Martin Phillips on the January 2006 NPF meeting:

The debate on health
by Martin Phillips

The reforms to the NPF meant that our first meeting, on health, was open to members of the East Midlands community. Our group included representatives of the NHS staff and management, as well as NHS patient groups. Unlike many party meetings, there was no long speech from the minister – we were quickly into comments, and there were a lot!

It was useful to get so many different viewpoints and to hear a different set of priorities from the ones we usually hear in Labour Party debates. I was not surprised at the range of subjects raised, as health covers so many different areas. What did surprise me was how many people talked about the problems being caused by the quality of some NHS senior management (which was raised even by NHS managers themselves). The word “accountability” came up several times, and many agreed that there are still too many NHS managers who do not take responsibility for their departments. One member of the public suggested an academy for NHS managers, which was a great idea and written down very quickly!

In the main meeting with health ministers, there was a great focus on health issues beyond hospitals, such as community health programmes and especially the care of people passing from the NHS into other agencies. As my family has several elderly members, I have seen these problems firsthand, so I was pleased that we agreed to give a high priority to discussing the integration of social care and the health service, to make things smoother.

I have heard so much cynicism about the NPF, but I felt that we made real progress in the first meeting, and with the health white paper bringing so much debate, I am sure that there will be a lot more work to do.

The Commission’s Work Programme

The Work Programme for the Health Policy Commission will consider the following issues over the next year:

How to improve primary and community care services – proposals have been made in the Health White Paper and the commission will review these as well as submissions made as a result of consultations over the White paper

How to improve the quality of social care and create a personalised service for all, with an emphasis on ensuring that there is smooth working between different agencies delivering care, particularly the NHS and social services.

NHS finance, funding formulae and the cause of the large deficits now being reported.

Improving public health, to seek new and radical ideas for tackling the problems we face

Seeking ideas for reducing health inequalities between different parts of our community

How to consult with people who are suffering long-term conditions and how to support them in making their own decisions about their care
work to improve the knowledge of party members about mental health issues and the work needed to tackle them

Review provision of NHS dentistry