Lifestyle

Minister Lord Darzi says NHS changes will benefit patients

The Government has made five pledges to calm fears about an overhaul of the way the NHS provides health services.

Health Minister Lord Darzi promised that any changes will benefit patients and be based on clinical evidence.

He also said that local people will lead decisions about the services in their areas and promised that existing services will not be withdrawn before "new and better" services replace them.

"The nature of healthcare means services will always need to change, and sometimes that means re-organising how services are provided," he said.

"Our nationwide listening events have shown me that patients, the public and NHS staff are not opposed to change in principle but want to ensure it is done to save lives and improve quality and is not driven by cost or politics.

"This is not about change for change's sake. It's about change for the right reasons, improving quality of care for patients and saving lives. These pledges mean change will be locally-led, clinically-driven and evidence-based."

Lord Darzi started his review in July last year. More than 60,000 people have participated, including nearly 2,000 staff working in healthcare.

He said that, in the next month, every area of the country will set out its vision for future services, outlining priorities for improving health and healthcare during the next decade.

The interim report Leading Local Change comes ahead of his final report which is due to be published next month.

"The focus of my report on the next stage of NHS reform will be how we can enable local clinicians and patients to be the driving force of improvement and change in the NHS. These proposals I am setting out are only the first part of that," he said.