NHS to exchange targets for greater patient choice, says Reid

The NHS will have fewer performance targets and a stronger emphasis on the quality of patient care from 2005-2006, Health Secretary John Reid announced today.

Publishing a consultation paper about NHS healthcare quality standards, 'Standards for Better Health', Dr Reid said with power decentralised and greater patient choice, the need for continuous government driven targets was removed.

He said that targets had "indisputably" achieved the objectives of delivering "speedier treatment" for patients and in expanding the NHS through more beds, hospital wards and NHS staff.

Now at the half-way point of the government's 10-year NHS plan, Dr Reid said that in four years time the "vast majority of our present targets" will be reached.

However, the health secretary said that the emphasis was now on frontline staff to concentrate on patient care.

"In four years time the natural and beneficial consequence of a reformed NHS - driven by patient preference, where money follows the patient and power is devolved to frontline staff - will be the need for fewer targets. By then, because we are giving power to patients we will need fewer targets from the centre," he said.

According to the government's targets: waiting times have halved since Labour came to power; in A&E departments across the country, 9 out of every 10 patients are now seen and treated within four hours; and 93% of patients are now offered an appointment with their GP within 48 hours of calling them.

Launching the proposed standards at a conference of NHS Chief Executives and senior clinicians in London, Dr Reid said: "NHS targets are working. They are driving forward the recruitment of more doctors, nurses and other NHS staff. They are ensuring that we have the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the NHS.

"Targets will still have a role to play - we still want to cut waiting times to three months by 2008 and to achieve our goals of recruiting even more staff. But increasingly the means by which we achieve the high standards we all seek will lie in the hands of front line staff themselves."

However, the heath secretary said that the government remained committed to publishing performance information on all NHS organisations.

The consultation period lasts for 12 weeks ending on May 4.

(gmcg)