Meeting with Andrew Lansley, Shadow Secretary of State for Health
An opportunity to discuss Conservative Health Policy and the implications of this for South Devon.
I felt reassured that the focus for healthcare under a Conservative government will be on outcomes (the results of treatment), rather than targets. Whilst some targets have been helpful, so many of them have had a distorting impact on patient care. Take waiting time targets in A&E, for example. Whilst on paper who could deny that no one should wait longer than 4 hours in casualty, the reality is of patients kept waiting in ambulances outside so as not to start the clock ticking, or others discharged to inappropriate wards.
Paying trusts by results, so that there is no reward for someone seriously harmed by a hospital acquired infection, will do more to improve standards than managers focusing on meaningless targets.
I am sure patients will welcome the commitment to greater openness within the NHS. The promise that everyone will be able to access surgeons' results and up to date figures for the rates of hospital infections. Whilst in rural areas, my experience is that most people prefer local and accessible care, it is good to know that patients will continue to be able to chose to travel elsewhere should local standards of care in some areas be shown to be less than at competing hospitals.
Daylight is the best disinfectant; openness about results and infection rates is essential to drive up standards. The current NHS choices website is dismal and needs to contain the information that patients actually want to see.
As for community hospitals, my personal crusade is to ensure their survival. GPs will hold the purse strings in the NHS under a Conservative government and so, where these hospitals are important to local people, GPs will be able to ensure that they receive a fair share of funding from their budgets.
