Ensuring the NHS delivers rising standards of healthcare

David Cameron stressed the Conservatives’ “wholehearted commitment” to the NHS in a keynote speech in Bolton, and explained how the NHS can deliver the rising standards of healthcare people expect in the 21^st Century.

David said he was committed to “the principle of a healthcare system that is free at the point of use, based on need and not the ability to pay”.

And he stressed that improving the NHS required reform of both sides of the “cost equation”:

“We have to make the supply of healthcare more efficient and we must also do something about the increase in demand for healthcare. The first set of reforms is all about choice, competition, and a focus on outcomes not targets, while the second is all about public health.”

David promised to increase competition by opening up the opportunity for any willing provider to supply care to NHS patients.

And he stressed that by giving patients more choice – over the doctor they see, and the hospital they’re treated in – we can create “a more user-friendly NHS”.

He also said that, under a Conservative Government, there would be a move away from Labour’s process targets and towards health outcome measures:

“The millions of human dramas that pour through the doors of the NHS need different responses, on-the-spot decisions, professional initiative, judgement, discrection.”

David ended by stressing, “We believe in the NHS. We understand the pressures it faces. And we have a plan to make the changes it needs. So we are the party of the NHS today because we not only back the values of the NHS, we have a vision for the future of the NHS.”

Mind welcomes radical reform of social care

As the Government sets out proposals today (Tuesday 14 July) to reform social care, leading mental health charity Mind welcomes the move to simplify the process and create a fairer system for the many thousands of people with mental health problems who currently pay for social care services.

Mind's Director of External Relations Sophie Corlett said:

"Health and social care are two sides of the same coin, yet the division between the two services and how they are paid for and accessed has long been a problem for people with experience of mental distress, whose needs can span both categories.

"Having a mental health problem isn't just a medical issue - it can affect every aspect of daily living, from holding down jobs and relationships, to domestic duties such as getting round to cooking and paying the bills. A lack of funding in the social care system has meant that people with enduring mental health needs have been missing out on simple but life changing services, including support in managing day to day tasks that will help them get back on their feet and live independent lives. People are being left isolated and unable to access support for the things in life that most people take for granted.

"The Government's commitment to a 'National Care Service' should help to address some of these problems by finally bringing social care in step with NHS services. We must ensure that any future Government signs up to this radical reform, which will create a fairer playing field for people with experience of mental distress."

Greens promise "new deal" for NHS - based on care, dignity and a £13bn stimulus

Today, the Green Party will launch a powerful bid to influence the health agenda towards the next general election.

The Green New Deal for the NHS proposes an extra £500m a year for maternity servces, plus £1.8bn a year for dental care. Most of this would be paid for by savings of £1bn on getting rid of Independent Sector Treatment Centres, and a further £1bn or more saved by scrapping the health care market.

There would be one-off costs of £1bn for reorganisation and at least £12bn to buy back the private finance initiatives, but liberating the NHS from PFI payments would save £1bn a year. So the Green New Deal for the NHS would pay for itself in the medium term, say the Greens.

On maternity services, the Greens' £500m stimulus would create a single-tier approach for all mothers:

* A wider range of birth choices - including home birth for all women who want it.
* All women to be entitled to support from a single midwife throughout each pregnancy.
* A major recruitment drive for midwives.
* Medical interventions to be significantly reduced.
* Culture change throughout the NHS so that birth is treated as a normal event - not an illness - in which mothers are empowered and able to be in control.

The extra £1.8bn a year for dentistry would restore the principle of dental care free at the point of access, with an end to the severe difficulties many people are now facing in attempting to find an NHS dentist.

Dignity, compassion and accountability

But improving the health service isn't just about wise spending and better access to services, say the Greens. The Green New Deal for the NHS would also improve the accountability of those services, along these lines:

* The NHS to be accountable to local government and thus to local people.
* An end to the purchaser/provider split so that public health, service planners and providers of care are under local government.
* The NHS to have centrally-defined minimum standards and national agreement on which treatments are available.
* Local people and clinicians to have a real say in how and where these services are delivered.

Finally the Green New Deal for the NHS would restore and develop a culture of dignity and compassion in the UK's health service, the Greens say:

* Health services must meet the needs of patients, not the needs of the market and corporate shareholders.
* Maternity care must meet the needs of women and their babies.
* Patients suffering with poor mental health must get a real say in the way they are treated. They must be told their diagnosis and must be able to set advance directives that spell out what type of care they want when they are ill.
* There must be legislation to prevent discrimination against people with mental illness.

Caroline Lucas MEP, Green Party leader - who is widely tipped to become the first Green MP at Westminster in the next general election - said today: "We need to protect and improve the National Health Service, and we need to stop it being used as a vehicle for private profit. We believe the public wants this too. So we're throwing down the gauntlet to the other parties, to match the Green Party's commitment to the NHS."

Maternity: UK needs private standards as a public service, says new Green report

A new policy report from the Green Party will demand radical improvements in UK maternity services.

A Green New Deal for the NHS will demand a single-tier approach for all mothers, funded from the public purse:

* A wider range of birth choices - including home birth for all women who want it
* All women to be entitled to support from a single midwife throughout each pregnancy
* A major recruitment drive for midwives
* Medical interventions to be significantly reduced
* Culture change throughout the NHS so that birth is treated as a normal event - not an illness - in which mothers are empowered and able to be in control

The Greens announced these policies on the day that a study was published in the British Obstetrics and Gynaecology Journal showing that home-birth is no more dangerous than hospital birth, for "normal" pregnanices - something Greens had long claimed, and which has now been demonstrated in a study of half a million births in the Netherlands.

The party's recent spring conference decided the Greens must take the lead in proposing huge improvements in UK maternity services. The conference debate was told:

* In 25% of NHS trusts intervention rates are double the targeted rates
* There is a severe shortage of midwives within the NHS
* The proportion of women giving birth by caesarian section remains at twice the target rate suggested by the World Health Organization
* The bill for medical negligence in childbirth rose almost 60% from 2005 and 2007

NHS maternity services need to change direction towards midwife-led, women-centred services that provides medical interventions only when necessary.

The Greens estimate that the dramatic improvements in maternity services proposed in A Green New Deal for the NHS would cost about £500m.

Green Party leader Caroline Lucas MEP, who is widely tipped to become the first Green MP at Westminster in the next general election, said today: "The UK must achieve the best possible standards of maternity care. Currently, due to shortage of funding, shortage of midwives and excessive interventions, we are far behind where we ought to be. The Green Party will fight the next general election on this platform - huge improvements in the NHS, and not least in maternity services."

Just £1.8 bn to fix NHS dentistry, says Green New Deal for the NHS

A new policy report to be launched this week by the Green Party will reveal startling new figures on the state of NHS dentistry, based on Freedom of Information Act research.

And the new report - A Green New Deal for the NHS - will show that just £1.8 billion a year would make NHS dentistry "a service that Britain can be proud of."

The report will show that:

* Between 55% and 60% of NHS practices are not taking new NHS patients.
* Access to NHS dentists can range from 1 dentist per 1,000 people - to as little as one-quarter of that, depending on where people live.
* Some Primary Care Trusts have no NHS dentists taking on new patients.
* The percentage of children who visited NHS dentists fell from 70.7% in March 2006 to 69.0% in June 2008.
* Less than half of the adult population is accessing NHS dentistry, and the numbers are continuing to decline.

Green Party health spokesperson Stuart Jeffery said today:

"The dental service received £2.1 billion of direct funding in 2007/08. If the current NHS dental service was provided free at the point of use, the total cost to the NHS would increase by £531m to a total of £2.6 billion.

"If the NHS wanted to provide free dentistry to 75% of the population (from the current 50%, assuming that some people will want to remain private), the total level of funding would need to increase from £2.6 billion to £3.9 billion. As the NHS currently provides £2.1 billion, an increase in funding of £1.8 billion would be required for patients to have dentistry free at the point of access.

"It seems little to ask to restore NHS dentistry to what it should be - a service that Britain can be proud of."

The full report _A Green New Deal for the NHS_ will be published later this week.

URL: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2009-04-13-dentistry.html