DrApparently the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is planning to remove NHS targets such as minimum waiting times for NHS care and replace them with a set of minimum care standards.  If this report from the BBC is accurate then although it is a good start it does not go nearly far enough.

I do believe that this could be an effective way of the NHS measuring patients outcomes but only with the following provisos:

  1. First, that the NHS is no longer a care provider. All NHS hospitals should be removed from State ownership.  They  must be owned and run by private companies, mutuals, cooperatives and other for and not-for-profit organisations.
  2. The NHS will then become an institution that funds and sets minimum standards for healthcare provision.
  3. Contracts for care must be awarded to these independent hospitals and their performance measured against the Health Secretaries’ minimum standards
  4. If the hospitals are not achieving the standards stipulated then contracts must be removed.

The final point is vital.  By introducing the system outlined above healthcare providers will become truly accountable for the care that they give their patients because if they do not provide high quality care for all patients they should be taken over by those who can turn them around or they will go out of business.