18 September 2007
The NHS "has to change and become better" to make it fit for the 21st Century, the Prime Minister has said as he launched the largest consultation on the future of the health service ever conducted.
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Later today I will be joining more than a thousand citizens, patients, doctors and nurses at one of nine events being held across the country to discuss the future of the National Health Service.
"Our NHS, Our Future" will be held in each region of the country, with each event linked together by video conference. In Birmingham, Alan Johnson will be taking part.
This is part of the largest consultation on the future of the NHS ever conducted in Britain. And it is being led by our new health minister - the surgeon Ara Darzi, who will also be taking part in Birmingham - who has a compelling vision for a future health service which is genuinely world leading in both the cures and the personal care that if offers.
I know the NHS has to change and become better - and more personal for the needs each citizen has.
With rising citizen expectations, the advance of new technologies and a much sharper understanding of the impact of lifestyle choices, the challenges that today’s National Health Service faces are very different from those of 20 years ago.
I believe we can only meet these challenges by remaining true to the values of the NHS - free at the point of use, open to all, rooted in the British belief in fairness and compassion - but I also know that no modern health service can afford to stand still.
The fast pace of technological change, with new cures and new treatments, means that the NHS must always adapt to improve the quality of care it offers. Citizens increasingly keen to receive services when and where they want them means that the NHS must become more responsive and better able to serve the needs of the public. And it is only by persuading people to change their own lifestyles that we can really improve the health of the nation.
Since 1997 the Government has invested £60 billion more a year in Britain’s health service. As a result, the West Midlands has 8,800 more nurses, over 1000 more consultants, over 400 more GPs and 6 new walk-in centres.
But there is more to do to make the NHS fit for the 21st century.
I want an NHS in which safety and cleanliness are the first priority which is why the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, announced further measures yesterday to give matrons more power and tighten the guidance on staff uniform.
I want an NHS in which people find it easy to get access to their GP and hospital and which offers the very highest standards of care - an NHS in which patients are treated as individuals with dignity and respect. Above all, I want an NHS in which the views of clinicians, patients and the public are listened to and become the driving force for change.
That is why we will be asking the people of Birmingham to tell us today about the issues which concern them. We want to know about their priorities for action and about their ideas for how healthcare in this area could be improved: how we can make the NHS more accessible, where the best place is to offer treatment, how GPs and hospitals can become more accessible to and accountable to local communities.
Next summer will be the 60th anniversary of the NHS. By that time I hope that Ara’s consultation will have led not only to immediate action in the areas identified today as priorities for change but also to a new consensus around a world-class NHS fit for the decade ahead.
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