Conservative's health reforms
Pace of health reform to quicken under a Conservative GovernmentUnder the Conservatives, the pace of reform will be stepped up, not slowed down. This was the clear message from Andrew Lansley, Shadow Secretary of State for Health in his recent lecture at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). Peter Watt, Chief Executive of the Campaign Company has recently blogged here on the implications of the Lansley speech for health policy makers and the insight it gives into the Conservative Party's vision on health.
The recent debate over potential public expenditure cuts may have led some to assume that a consensus over maintaining NHS growth will mean there are no dividing lines on health in the forthcoming general election. However Andrew Lansley's key political point was the reforms set out by Alan Milburn and Tony Blair have stalled and that in return for continuing investment those reforms would need to be properly implemented. He identified the key objectives Tony Blair set out in 2006 and in his speech explained how the Conservatives would take reform forward in these areas. Even with a protected budget there will still be a tougher financial environment. Chief Executive of the NHS, David Nicholson has said it needs to make 15-20 billion worth of efficiency savings over the coming years, and the NHS Confederation has echoed this. The NHS will have to do more with less.
His next key theme was a radical redistribution of power, and decentralisation. In the public services this would mean empowering Doctors, Nurses and teachers, and the scrapping of many targets arguing they have created perverse outcomes, led to some cheating, and denied authority to front-line managers. As he put it “the process has become the target rather than the outcomes being the target. The focus should be on outcomes rather than making staff jump through hoops." In practice, their policy does not mean the ending of all targets but certainly the emphasis will be different.
He highlighted again the need for efficiency and the role social marketing approaches can play to improve diet, tackle heavy use of alcohol and encourage more exercise. He emphasised that public health needs to be ring fenced with separate funding, so that the money is not raided by other parts of the NHS. Moreover, he underlined increases in health inequalities in areas such as infant mortality, longevity and obesity.
In summing up he emphasised that the NHS needs reform, not reorganisation, so many will be relieved that when he talks of change he is not talking about structural changes. A focus on outcomes rather than targets would, he believes, lead to innovation. In driving reform the Conservatives would keep what works and seek to use choice, competition, devolution and professional responsibility to achieve accountability, equity and efficiency.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 23 June 2009 10:36 Wednesday, 17 June 2009 00:00