The Department of Health is undertaking a consultation process for the proposed changes to the NHS put forward recently by the government.
Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley set out recently the Government's ambitious plans to reform the NHS in the long-term in the White Paper ‘Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS’.
Under the new proposed changes, patients will get more choice and control so that services are more responsive to patients and designed around them, rather than patients having to fit around services.
It is proposed that patients will be able to choose which GP practice they register with, regardless of where they live, and choose between consultant-led teams. More comprehensive and transparent information, such as patient ratings, will help them make these choices together with healthcare professionals.
Under the new plans, groups of GPs will be given freedom and responsibility for commissioning care for their local communities. Providers of services will have new freedoms and they will be more accountable. Services will become more integrated, supported by a new role for Local Authorities to support integration across health and social care.
As a result of the changes, the NHS will be streamlined and Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts will be phased out. This is with the aim of reducing management costs so that more resources can be directed to frontline services.
You can have your say on the changes by reading the consultation document on the Department for Health’s website
You can then download a response form from the link above and return it by email to: nhswhitepaper@dh.gsi.gov.uk or by post to: Consultation Responses, Quality and Outcomes Policy Team, Room 602A, Skipton House, 80 London Road, London SE1
6LH
The deadline for responses is 11th October 2010.