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HEALTHCARE FOR LONDON: A framework for action

NHS London has asked Professor Sir Ara Darzi, of Imperial College to develop a strategy to meet Londoners' health needs over the next five to ten years.

Over the coming months Professor Darzi, who is Paul Hamlyn Chair of Surgery at Imperial, will bring together NHS professionals - including GPs, hospital doctors, nurses and other front-line NHS staff- to set out the best possible models of care for patients, which will provide the principles for any future local NHS changes.

The strategy, to be known as Healthcare For London: A Framework For Action, is driven by acceptance that:

• Medicine has changed, and will change more, and London's health services have not kept pace with these changes.
• As a result health and healthcare in London is not as good as it could be.
• London's world class reputation in health science research is in jeopardy if it does not change.
• Healthcare for London is a tremendous opportunity to get things right to achieve better health, deliver improved care and better outcomes and to strengthen London's global competitiveness in health science research.

Consultation and involvement in the strategy will also include patients, the public, MPs, the Mayor of London, the Greater London Authority, London Councils, user organisations and academic institutions.

The process of drawing up the framework takes place against a background of local discussions and speculation about changes in hospitals. However, as distinct from previous London health strategies, Professor Darzi's framework will not be setting out specific plans for changes at local level.

Instead it will look at examples of high quality healthcare across the UK and in other parts of the world, in particular large cities, and draw on those to set out the framework for Londoners' future healthcare. It will take into account a range of factors including:

• The health needs of the population
• Radical thinking about how to deliver services that compare with the best in the world and provide the best possible outcomes for patients
• Future developments in technology, drugs, and clinical advances
• Current and emerging national policy.

Chief Executive of NHS London Ruth Carnall said:

"I am delighted that Professor Darzi has agreed to lead this work. His leadership of Healthcare for London means we have a fantastic opportunity to understand how to provide the best possible health services for patients and the public.

"Of course there are local reviews underway in many parts of London already. Where those reviews need to go ahead as a matter of urgency, they must fit together as far as possible to offer Londoners a joined-up and well thought out set of NHS services."

Professor Ara Darzi said: "I am determined that we discuss the future properly not only with relevant London organisations, but also with those with experience of providing and receiving NHS services - frontline staff and patients.

"We will be organising events to discuss ideas and inviting feedback through a website and other means.. There will be some complex and difficult choices to be made and we must involve staff, patients and the public properly to help us make them."

An initial document, setting out the framework and models of service for patients will be published in the spring. A further process of wide-ranging public involvement and discussion will produce a final health strategy for London which will be published in summer 2007.

A MORI survey of the public, aimed at finding out their views of the current NHS and their preferences for how it should operate in future is already underway and will help inform Healthcare for London.

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Notes to Editors

For further information please contact Steve Gladwin on 020 7932 3725.

For the terms of reference for Healthcare for London: A Framework for Action.