Andrew Lansley makes his first public speech as Secretary of State for Health
On 8 June Andrew Lansley made his first speech as Secretary of State for Health at Bromley by Bow Health Centre. The Health Secretary challenged the NHS to:
• make a cultural shift. From a culture responsive mainly to orders from the top-down, to one responsive to patients, in which patient safety is put first.
• devolve power through the unleashing of meaningful information to patients. Comparative data about standards and patient experience will drive up standards, as the data will influence patient choice. A transparent NHS is a safer NHS.
• engage people in their care so that, “no decision is made about me, without me”, and give patients the opportunity to provide feedback in real time, reflecting the experience of their care.
• embrace leadership by setting NHS professionals free from a target-centred and bureaucratic system that compromises patient care, to one focussed on the quality, innovation, productivity and safety required to improve patient outcomes.
• adopt a holistic approach by looking at the entire patient pathway from preventative health and well-being measures, through to hospital and community care.
• align payments in the NHS to drive up the quality of care that patients receive. In the first instance, through introducing payments which encapsulate a more integrated care pathway by giving hospitals responsibility for a patient’s care for 30 days after they are discharged.
On 8 June Andrew Lansley made his first speech as Secretary of State for Health at Bromley by Bow Health Centre. The Health Secretary challenged the NHS to:
- make a cultural shift. From a culture responsive mainly to orders from the top-down, to one responsive to patients, in which patient safety is put first.
- devolve power through the unleashing of meaningful information to patients. Comparative data about standards and patient experience will drive up standards, as the data will influence patient choice. A transparent NHS is a safer NHS.
- engage people in their care so that, “no decision is made about me, without me”, and give patients the opportunity to provide feedback in real time, reflecting the experience of their care.
- embrace leadership by setting NHS professionals free from a target-centred and bureaucratic system that compromises patient care, to one focussed on the quality, innovation, productivity and safety required to improve patient outcomes.
- adopt a holistic approach by looking at the entire patient pathway from preventative health and well-being measures, through to hospital and community care.
- align payments in the NHS to drive up the quality of care that patients receive. In the first instance, through introducing payments which encapsulate a more integrated care pathway by giving hospitals responsibility for a patient’s care for 30 days after they are discharged.
For a full transcript of the speech visit the Department of Health website.