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Smokers could be required to quit in exchange for NHS rights
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Will Woodward, chief political correspondent
Tuesday January 1, 2008
The Guardian
[/FONT] People could be expected to lose weight and give up smoking in exchange for rights to healthcare to be enshrined in a new NHS constitution, Gordon Brown will signal today.The prime minister will pledge to deliver a bill of rights for patients which will establish the "rights and responsibilities associated with an entitlement to NHS care" in a message to staff to mark the 60th year of the health service. Those responsibilities will include keeping appointments, but government sources say there needs to be a debate on whether patients should be expected to play their own part in reducing their burden on the health service. Brown will make a keynote speech on preventive care later this month.
"We need an NHS that gives all of those with long-term or chronic conditions the choice of greater support, information and advice, allowing them to play a far more active role in managing their own condition in partnership with their clinicians," he will say. "Even when healthy, we know all of us will benefit from earlier information about potential health risks and advice. We will set out how we can give all those patients who want it, or would benefit from it, far greater control and choice."Brown has rejected an independent NHS, saying the health service needs to be held to account through parliament and ministers. But he believes the constitution could enshrine rights and responsibilities, and accurately describe the relationships between the Department of Health and primary care trusts and other bodies.
The appeal is likely to be received coolly by the British Medical Association, which is in dispute with the government over attempts to extend GPs' hours, a key part of Brown's personalisation agenda. The BMA supports a constitution but says it should "markedly" cut politicians' interference in the daily running of the NHS. Unison has urged Brown to use the constitution to put limits on the use of the private sector.
Some ministers believe health staff have been slower to embrace personalisation than school staff. But Brown will make a point today of hailing employees' "hard work, determination and innovation".
The review of the NHS by Ara Darzi, the surgeon appointed as a junior minister by Brown, is expected to deliver its final report in the summer, close to the July 5 "birthday" of the NHS.
Brown will say today that the NHS needs "a broadening and a deepening of reform" to ensure it "attaches the same priority to a personal and preventative service as many of you already reflect in your own day-to-day decisions. And I believe they will transform the experience of the NHS for millions of people in this country."
David Cameron will spend two days visiting NHS hospitals this week and the Tories are likely to accuse the government of offering a pale imitation of their ideas.
[FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]
Will Woodward, chief political correspondent
Tuesday January 1, 2008
The Guardian
[/FONT] People could be expected to lose weight and give up smoking in exchange for rights to healthcare to be enshrined in a new NHS constitution, Gordon Brown will signal today.The prime minister will pledge to deliver a bill of rights for patients which will establish the "rights and responsibilities associated with an entitlement to NHS care" in a message to staff to mark the 60th year of the health service. Those responsibilities will include keeping appointments, but government sources say there needs to be a debate on whether patients should be expected to play their own part in reducing their burden on the health service. Brown will make a keynote speech on preventive care later this month.
"We need an NHS that gives all of those with long-term or chronic conditions the choice of greater support, information and advice, allowing them to play a far more active role in managing their own condition in partnership with their clinicians," he will say. "Even when healthy, we know all of us will benefit from earlier information about potential health risks and advice. We will set out how we can give all those patients who want it, or would benefit from it, far greater control and choice."Brown has rejected an independent NHS, saying the health service needs to be held to account through parliament and ministers. But he believes the constitution could enshrine rights and responsibilities, and accurately describe the relationships between the Department of Health and primary care trusts and other bodies.
The appeal is likely to be received coolly by the British Medical Association, which is in dispute with the government over attempts to extend GPs' hours, a key part of Brown's personalisation agenda. The BMA supports a constitution but says it should "markedly" cut politicians' interference in the daily running of the NHS. Unison has urged Brown to use the constitution to put limits on the use of the private sector.
Some ministers believe health staff have been slower to embrace personalisation than school staff. But Brown will make a point today of hailing employees' "hard work, determination and innovation".
The review of the NHS by Ara Darzi, the surgeon appointed as a junior minister by Brown, is expected to deliver its final report in the summer, close to the July 5 "birthday" of the NHS.
Brown will say today that the NHS needs "a broadening and a deepening of reform" to ensure it "attaches the same priority to a personal and preventative service as many of you already reflect in your own day-to-day decisions. And I believe they will transform the experience of the NHS for millions of people in this country."
David Cameron will spend two days visiting NHS hospitals this week and the Tories are likely to accuse the government of offering a pale imitation of their ideas.
