We won't take risks with NHS - PM

2011-04-06 20:09:02

6 April 2011 Last updated at 12:48 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print PM seeks to allay fears, but insists change is needed   By Nick Triggle Health reporter, BBC News The NHS is under going a major revamp Continue reading the main story NHS shake-up Q&A: The NHS shake-up At-a-glance: What has changed What next for the NHS changes? Health reforms - where they stand

The government will not take risks with the NHS in England, Prime Minister David Cameron says.

But at the launch of a new push to convince critics that the planned reforms are right, he said sticking with the status quo was not an option.

The prime minister was joined by his deputy Nick Clegg and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to try to present a united front amid widespread criticism.

Labour has branded the pause in the progress of the bill a "PR stunt".

Speaking at a hospital in Surrey, Mr Cameron said change was necessary because of rising demands on the health service from factors such as the ageing population.

He added: "I'm in politics not to take risks with the NHS but to safeguard and improve the NHS for today and future generations.

"If we want to keep the NHS free at the point of use we have to make it more efficient - sticking with the status quo is not going to work."

Greater freedoms

He said there would be a series of events over the next two months where ministers would be meeting with the public and those working in the NHS to explain the reforms and to see if improvements could be made.

But he insisted there was support for the basic principles - putting patients and GPs in charge, reducing bureancracy and giving greater freedoms to hospitals.

Continue reading the main story Analysis Nick Triggle Health reporter, BBC News

After weeks - make that months of criticism - the government is facing a tricky balancing act.

Most people agree the NHS cannot stand still - the ageing population, rising cost of drugs and lifestyle factors like obesity means costs are outstripping the rise in funding the health service is getting.

And so the government is fully committed to the basic principles of the reform programme - GPs holding the purse strings and greater competition. There will be no U-turn.

But at the same time ministers recognise they have a job to do to convince the NHS and wider public that the changes they are making are the right ones.

That is going to require reassurance, clarification and perhaps, hardest of all, compromise.

Read Nick Robinson's blog

The government has also enlisted Professor Steve Field, the former chairman of the Royal College of GPs, to head a panel of experts - called the NHS Future Forum - which will take a leading role in the "listening exercise".

Under the government's overhaul of the NHS, GPs are to be given control of much of the budget - allowing two tiers of management to be scrapped.

The NHS is also to be opened up to greater competition.

The government took the step of launching the "listening exercise" after Mr Lansley accepted in the House of Commons on Monday that there were concerns.

He told MPs he wanted to use a natural pause in the parliamentary timetable before the bill underpining the changes returns in late Spring to engage with people.

Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Lansley said the two-month exercise was a "genuine opportunity to shape the future of the health service".

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