Andrew Lansley 'pauses' progress of NHS reform bill: Miliband speech

Andrew Lansley 'pauses' progress of NHS reform bill: Miliband speech; - My argument today is that to do that, to create an ever better health service, change will be essential. The new pressures on the NHS are too great, the new challenges too large for us to think that preserving the status quo will be enough. The choice for the NHS is not as the Prime Minister suggests, between change or no change. It’s a choice about what that change should be. My case is that we need change which upholds the values of the NHS and makes it work in the era in which we live. I believe the Government’s changes will undermine the values of the NHS and make it harder to meet the challenges of the future. I want to base my account of the future for the NHS on three critical lessons from our record which I think point to the right path for future change. First, change is successful where it is driven by the current and future challenges faced by the NHS. Second, change in the NHS works best where it strengthens accountability and makes the NHS answerable to patients. And third, whilst reform requires difficult and sometimes unpopular choices, it is only successful if it protects the sense of national mission and the values of cohesion and collaboration that underpin the work of our health service. I want to show why these lessons are the right ones to learn from our time in office, question whether the government is applying them in their reforms, and then look to what priorities our NHS should be pursuing in the future. In 1997, Labour inherited an NHS in dire straits. It was an institution that was profoundly valued, but it was also seen as being in steady – and, according to some, irreversible decline. Yet investment and reform transformed the service. Two facts stand out beyond all others: The verdict of the public: at a time when people talk about cynicism in our public life, the NHS is now benefiting from the highest satisfaction ratings it has ever ac...