Government outlines health reform goals
pharmafile | July 20, 2010 | News story | | NHS, NHS targets, government
The coalition government has proposed five areas, from increasing quality of life to preventing premature death, against which the success of its radical overhaul of health services should be judged.
The move is part of a public consultation on the structure, core principles and outcome measures that should be used in the reshaped NHS.
A public consultation, called Transparency in Outcomes – a framework for the NHS, is looking for views from doctors and the general public on the specific proposals, which include moving to a system of value-based pricing for pharma companies.
The new document talks of paying drug makers “according to the value of new medicines, to promote innovation, ensure better access for patients to effective drugs and improve value for money”.
The government has already announced the creation of a Cancer Drug Fund from April 2011 which will support patients to get the drugs their doctors recommend.
“I want to hear the views of healthcare professionals, patients, carers and the public on how the new system should work, and what we should measure to ensure the NHS is focused on what is important to patients and what improves their overall experience of NHS care,” said health secretary Andrew Lansley.
The five areas the Department of Health wants to focus on are:
• Preventing people from dying prematurely
• Enhancing quality of life for people with long-term conditions
• Helping people recover from episodes of ill health or following injury
• Ensuring people have a positive experience of care
• Treating and caring for people in a safe environment and protecting them from avoidable harm
“Instead of politically motivated targets which lack clinical evidence, we will measure the outcomes that are most important to patients and that are relevant to healthcare professionals,” says Lansley.
“I want to free doctors and nurses to focus on what really matters – better results for their patients – instead of them being stifled by top down targets.”
Other consultations will be published in the next few weeks, followed by a series of events nationwide at which reform plans will be presented.
These consultations follow on from the White Paper Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, published earlier this month.
This set the scene for what some say will be the biggest shake-up of the NHS since its inception more than 60 years ago, with primary care doctors taking charge of health spending.
England’s 152 primary care trusts and ten regional Strategic Health Authorities will be abolished and GPs will have responsibility for budgets from April 2013.
Adam Hill
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