Reid promises shorter waiting times
Unveiling Labour’s five year plan for the NHS, the Health Secretary pledged that the maximum waiting time, from GP referral to NHS operation, would be a maximum of 18 weeks by 2008.
The average wait Dr John Reid said will be nine to ten weeks.
He said that setting a definitive time frame meant there will be “no hidden waits anymore”
On patient choice, the Secretary of State said that by the end of 2005 all patients in England would be able to choose from four or five providers on referral, which was a “substantial step forward.”
But by 2008, every in England patient would be able to choose from any facility that met NHS standards and can provide care at NHS prices, he told the House.
He contrasted the Government’s choice based policy to the Conservative’s pledge to provide 50 per cent of the NHS cost of the treatment to patients choosing to be treated in a private hospital as “queue cutting not queue jumping” and “access based on need and not ability to pay”.
“We will not waver from the founding principle of the NHS. Under this Government, NHS care will continue to be provided according to need and not according to ability to pay.”
“Let me make it clear that it would be nothing short of hypocrisy to promise that greater choice will be open to everyone while reducing or diverting resources away from the National Health Service, allowing unlimited waiting times.”
Yearly spending Dr Reid said will rise year on year to over £90.2 billion in 2007/08, amounting to 7.3 per cent growth over five years.
Announcing an increasing focus on help for the 17.5 million people living with long term illnesses, Dr Reid said that new community matrons would be appointed.
Dr Reid promised a white paper in the autumn on strategies to tackle obesity, smoking and sexually transmitted diseases.
