NHS Next Stage

Tories oppose NHS reform - Bradshaw

BEN BRADSHAW MP, Labour's Health Minister, commented today on the Conservatives' opposition to the NHS Next Stage Review:

"Today we published important proposals to make the NHS fairer and give more power to patients. They were drawn up in consultation with the public and thousands of health professionals at local level. Once again, the Tories are opposing them for opposition's sake.

"The Tories have said they will reverse extended GP opening hours and they oppose new GP health centres. The Tories say they will scrap all targets including those guaranteeing a maximum 18 week wait for an operation or a 4
hour maximum wait in A and E. That would take us back to the bad old days of horrendously long waits.

"While Labour is working with people, doctors, nurses and other NHS staff to further improve the NHS, the Tories have nothing positive to say. David Cameron's health policy is a content free zone."

Ends

Editor's notes:

1. The Next Stage Review has been a clinically-led local process. Proposals for service changes are being developed and agreed locally, based on the clinical evidence and the needs and preferences of the local community. The Review will:

• Give patients even greater influence over the services they use by guaranteeing choice and access to the most clinically and cost effective drugs and treatments.

• Make healthcare more personal by ensuring that everyone with a long-term condition has their own personalised care plan and by piloting personal health budgets.

• Create an NHS that helps people to stay healthy by rolling out a new national programme of vascular risk assessment for people aged between 40 and 74, and rewarding family doctors for focusing on prevention and early intervention.

• Raise the standards on quality within the NHS by systematically measuring and publishing information about the quality of care from the frontline up.

• Foster a pioneering NHS by introducing new funds and prizes to support and reward innovation, and developing new best practice tariffs targeted on areas for improvement.

• Empower frontline staff by enabling them to lead and manage their organisations and improving the quality of NHS education and training.

2. David Cameron keeps making promises to various audiences - patients, GPs or NHS staff - without setting out the real risks that his policies present to the NHS services that patients want.

• David Cameron tries to win over some audiences by promising to scrap targets. But when will he tell patients that this would mean:

o He would scrap the guarantee that cancer patients are seen within two weeks?
o He would scrap tough targets for MRSA and C. diff?
o He would scrap the guarantee that all patients are seen within 18 weeks?

• David Cameron tries to say he would invest in the NHS by allowing hospitals to borrow against their buildings and equipment. But will he tell patients that, as his own party's policy document admits, this "will entail risks to the assets necessary for the provision of essential NHS services"?

• David Cameron tries to please GPs by saying he would let GPs decide whatever opening hours they want. But will he tell patients that this means an end to the agreement with GPs for more evening and weekend opening?

• David Cameron tells local campaigns that he wants to stop NHS reconfigurations, but then also tells the NHS it will be free to make its own decisions independently, without Government involvement. Will he tell local campaigns that his promises are empty, or will he drop his NHS independence policy?

• David Cameron tells GPs that he opposes Labour's plan to open new GP health centres across the country on top of existing provision, but would he renew the centres' five year contracts? If not, will he inform people that they would lose their local health centre?

• David Cameron and Andrew Lansley try to score cheap political points by calling new check-ups to prevent heart disease "desperate gimmicks". But will they admit that thousands of patients aged 40-74 will be identified for life saving treatments as a result?

• David Cameron's claims last year on "threatened" hospitals were exposed as scaremongering. When will he admit to patients in these areas that his claims were inaccurate and, like his recent inaccurate accusations on GP practices, just designed to win political points?

---

Tory record Labour record
Waiting lists Up by 400,000 from 1979-1997 Down by 607,000 since 1997

Waiting times In 1997, 284,000 patients were waiting for over six months for their operations. Now almost nobody waits this long – just 71 at the end of March 2008. Most patients now wait less than 13 weeks, and by the end of this year nobody will have to wait for more than 18 weeks from GP referral to the start of treatment.

Cancer waits In 1997, just 63% of people with suspected cancer were seen within two weeks of being referred. Now, 99.6% of people with suspected cancer are seen within two weeks of being referred.

Operations 6.2 million operations were carried out in 1997. 7.8 million operations were carried out in 2006/7 – that’s over 1.5 million more.

Heart operations 35,690 heart operations were carried out in 1997. 74,089 heart operations were carried out in 2007 – that’s almost twice as many.

Heart operation waits In 1997, patients were waiting for up to two years for their heart operation. Now virtually nobody waits for more than three months for a heart operation.

Nurse numbers

There were fewer than 320,000 nurses in the NHS in 1997.

Today there are nearly 400,000 nurses in the NHS – that’s over 80,000 more since 1997.

Doctor numbers There were fewer than 90,000 doctors in the NHS in 1997. Today there are over 128,000 doctors in the NHS – that’s over 38,000 more since 1997.

Nurses’ starting pay In 1997 a newly-qualified nurse’s basic pay was just £12,385. Today a newly-qualified nurse earns £19,645.

Nurses’ average pay In 1997 average pay for a nurse was £20,760. Today, average pay for a nurse is £31,826.

NHS walk-in centres None in 1997. There are around 90 NHS walk-in centres across England today.