Prevention Better Than Cure Says PM

NHS patients will no longer have to 'be sick' to be 'treated', as new plans for the first national health screening programme have revealed.

The initiative aims to detect early signs of the top killer diseases and take preventative action, before the patient-in-waiting becomes ill.

The Government scheme is the first national screening programme of its kind in the world which aims to spot the early signs of heart problems, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease.

Prime Minister, Gordon Brown said he hopes to create a more personalised and preventative service, which would be the Government's "highest priority".

"The NHS of the future will do more than just treat patients who are ill - it will be an NHS offering prevention as well," he said at Kings College in London.

"The NHS of the future will be more than a universal service - it will be a personal service too. It will not be the NHS of the passive patient - the NHS of the future will be one of patient power, patients engaged and taking greater control over their own health and their healthcare too.

"And so if the NHS is to change like this - to meet the challenges of 21st century healthcare and our 21st century lives - we will have to embrace even deeper and wider reform."

And in a bid to cut waiting times, Mr Brown also announced plans to make key diagnostic procedures like blood tests, electro-cardiograms (ECGs) and ultrasounds available in local GP surgeries.

He also announced that Health Secretary Alan Johnson will set out plans over the coming months to introduce NHS tests to identify vulnerability to a range of heart and circulation problems.

Mr Brown outlined further moves to meet the Government's target of a maximum 18-week waiting time from diagnosis to treatment.

(BMcC)