14.06.11
‘We have listened, we have learned’
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has admitted he “did not do it right” on the proposed NHS reforms as he, David Cameron and Nick Clegg accepted the “core recommendations” of the NHS Future Forum.
Speaking at Guy’s Hospital in central London, they announced that the proposed GP consortia will be replaced by “clinical commissioning groups” within local authority boundaries, each with a nurse, a hospital doctor and two lay members, one of whom must be chair or deputy chair.
Outlining the full series of compromises, Cameron said: “We have listened, we have learned and we are improving our plans for the NHS.”
He continued his theme, set out in an opinion piece for the Daily Mail before his speech, that reform is desperately needed, but that the Government had to listen to people’s concerns.
He wrote: “When I became Prime Minister, I made a few promises to myself: Not to go native and forget what people care about and not to stick stubbornly to a course if it wasn't the right thing to do. In holding an unprecedented listening exercise on the NHS, I believe I've stayed true to both.
“It was clear earlier this year that some of the people who work in our NHS were concerned about our plans. We were hearing that our direction of travel was right – more choice and control for patients, more freedom and power for professionals, less mind-numbing bureaucracy – but yes, some of the details were wrong.
“So we had a choice. We could have ridden roughshod over people's concerns – but frankly, that is not the action of the sort of government I want to lead.
“We could have ditched our plans altogether – but given the monumental financial challenges the NHS faces, with an ageing population and rising treatment costs, not to reform at all would have been a dereliction of duty. So we paused, we took time out to reflect and get this absolutely right.”
For more on the new shape of the reforms and reaction to them, see www.nationalhealthexecutive.com/NHS-Future-Forums-16-reform-recommendations.htm
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