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IN THE WEEK
THAT THE NHS CELEBRATES ITS 60TH BIRTHDAY, the Government
has revealed plans for more personalised health care
fitted to the needs of families and focused
on preventing ill health as well as curing
it.
To ensure fair access to the most
clinically and cost-effective drugs and treatments, all patients
will have the right to approved drugs and treatments where their
clinician recommends them, ending the postcode
lottery.
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 review
is part of Labour's campaign 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 care for
everyone.
Lord Darzi said:
’This report will enable the
visions for high quality care set out by those who know best - the
frontline doctors, nurses and patients who provide and use NHS
services.
‘As a
surgeon I know how vital it is to balance the quality of the
patient's experience - a clean and safe environment, being treated
with compassion dignity and respect - with the success of the
treatment they receive.
’By measuring this quality across
the service and publishing that information for the first time,
both staff and patients can work together to make better informed
choices about their care.
’By setting clearer standards, and
recognising and rewarding innovation in quality, we can keep pace
with the very latest advances in medicine and
technology.
’By investing in additional health
centres and services for GPs the NHS will diagnose illness faster
and help people to stay healthy, as well as treating them when they
are sick.
Shona McIsaac
said:
'This is a
tremendous opportunity to build an NHS which provides world-class
services for everyone.
‘The NHS
is Labour's greatest achievement. We created it, we saved it and we
will always support it.
'I
want to say thank you to all health service staff - past and
present. We should all take pride in the NHS. It is all too easy to
knock the health service, but without it we would be so much worse
off.'
30 June 2008
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