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Only three days ago Britain celebrated the 60th birthday anniversary of the NHS. Amidst the looming anniversary Lord Darzi launched a much anticipated ‘Next Stage Final Report.’ Entitled High Quality Care for All, it aims to ‘develop a vision of a service fit for the 21st century’, one which ‘works in partnership... has quality of care at its heart [and] gives patients and the public more information and choice’. Its recommendations can be summarised as follows:
· Every primary care trust will commission comprehensive wellbeing and prevention services, in partnership with local authorities, with the services offered personalised to meet the specific needs of their local populations.
· A Coalition for Better Health, with a set of new voluntary agreements between the Government, private and third sector organisations on actions to improve health outcomes.
· Support for people to stay healthy at work.
· Extend choice of GP practise.
· Introduce a new right to choice in the first NHS constitution.
· Ensure everyone with a long-term condition has a personalised care plan.
· Pilot personal health budgets.
· Guarantee patients access to the most clinically and cost effective drugs and treatments.
The ‘common theme’ through these new measures, asserted Lord Darzi, is ‘improving quality’. The BMA responded to this report in tepid fashion. Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of BMA Council, says:
There is much here that could bring about improvement – if it can be delivered. That will depend on the details, and on the true engagement of NHS staff in implementing change.
Meanwhile at BMA’s annual representative meeting Dr Meldrum stated that the NHS in England should abandon the private sector and follow Scotland’s lead. Dr Meldrum described the use of the market to improve healthcare as a ‘peculiarly English disease.’ He said:
[The BMA] wants to see an NHS untarnished by a market economy . . . not a service run like a shoddy supermarket war. If it can be done here in Edinburgh it can be done in England.
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