Conservative party leader proposes independent board for NHS
David Cameron: NHS top priority |
Conservative leader David Cameron has promised to take the running of the NHS out of the hands of politicians by setting up an independent board.
He told the King’s Fund that the move would stop the service being
treated as a “political football” and make health service
workers more accountable. He said he wanted to move away from the “micromanagement” of
health care towards “greater professional responsibility for those
who work in the NHS”.
Mr Cameron was unveiling more details of his proposals, first outlined
at last week’s annual party conference in Bournemouth.
He told that conference that the NHS was his top priority, ditching the
previous party policy of subsidising patients who go private and criticising
Margaret Thatcher’s tax breaks for private medical insurance.
Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said that a new NHS board would
be responsible for allocating resources, commissioning services and increasing
standards of care. And an economic regulator would license providers, “promoting
competition and safeguarding financial propriety”.
King’s Fund chief executive Niall Dickson commented: “Removing
unwanted political interference in the day-to-day operation of the health
service is an admirable goal. But at the moment the detail from all the
political parties is sketchy.” He added that there would always
be a role for central government in setting the overall funding and standards
of care that can be expected. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
Reader