Health standards: "Only promise what you can deliver"

30/06/2009

The King's Fund, the independent charitable organisation that works to  improve health care in the UK, has warned that the Government will need to temper its promises to improve the health service with what is achievable.

 

Commenting on the health announcements contained in Building Britain’s 
Future, The King’s Fund chief executive Niall Dickson said: "The idea that patients should have a right to certain standards of treatment is a good one and the government should be congratulated on reducing the number of central targets, some of which were hard to justify.

 

"However, we do need to be clear that many of the ‘rights’ set out in the Prime Minister’s announcement are currently ‘must do’s’ for the NHS. For example, the four hour maximum wait in accident and emergency, the 18 week wait for hospital treatment and health checks for 40 year olds are all already in operation.

 

"The announcement today also suggests the government will have to  strengthen the new NHS Constitution, which was only launched a few  months ago.

 

"The other concern must be that the new rights raise expectations among patients that the NHS may find hard to deliver. For example the guarantee of access to NHS dentistry and to enable patients with long term conditions to die at home are laudable ambitions but if the service cannot achieve that standard immediately, there is a risk of alienating staff and frustrating patients.

 

"Nor should we forget that NHS targets, although unpopular and sometimes misguided, did play a vital role in driving the dramatic decreases in waiting times over the past 12 years."