London Programme for IT

Highlights of the White Paper

The Secretary of State's White Paper - Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS – represents the biggest change the health service has ever seen.

And the pace of this change is going to be quicker than anything experienced before. Here are the main changes.

Liberating the NHS

• End micromanagement of NHS by Secretary of State
• Greater focus on quality
• Transfer public health to Local Authority
• Break down barriers between health and social care
• NHS will employ fewer staff although this will be rebalanced toward clincal staff

Putting patients first

• ‘No decision about me without me' and increased patient control over records
• Information revolution - access to comprehensive, easy to understand information
• Choice of provider, consultant, treatment and GP practice - including non-NHS providers working to NHS standards and prices
• Creation of HealthWatch - consumer champion

Improving health outcomes

• NHS held to account on delivery of clinical outcomes, not process targets. Targets without clinical justification removed
• 150 quality standards developed by NICE to inform commissioning payment systems and quality inspectorate
• Pharmaceutical companies will be paid according to the value of their drugs
• New Cancer Fund established to ensure all patients get their recommended drugs
• Providers paid according to performance

Accountability, autonomy and democratic legitimacy

• Reshape commissioning and put GP consortia in lead
• Create independent NHS Commissioning Board (abolish SHAs, PCTs) by 2013
• ‘Largest social enterprise sector in the world'
• Every NHS trust becomes a Foundation Trust by 2012; NHS Trust authorisation dissolved
• Monitor the NHS economic regulator; strengenthened Care Quality Commission as quality inspectorate
• No bail outs
• Ring-fenced public health budget given to local government

Cutting bureaucracy, improving efficiency

• NHS will release £20bn of efficiency savings by 2014/15
• NHS administration costs reduced by 45%
• Unnecessary quangos abolished and delayer, simplify the number of NHS bodies and NHS functions, DH and Secretary of State roles cut back

Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS