LIVE BLOG: NHS listening tour

LIVE BLOG: NHS listening tour

12.27
David Cameron concludes: “You are a great British insitution. We love what you do.”

12.24
David Cameron: People will be going to their GPS and asking to have their treatment at the places where the best outcomes are.

He says the government has to ensure GP-led commissioning fully takes on board the roles of colleagues in hospitals. “This is a great prize that has eluded the NHS.”

Andrew Lansley: “Where we are now is a very important moment for us to understand what it is across the NHS that best delivers outcomes.”

Discussing cancer services, he asks: “Can we start from this cancer network structure and use this as the basis where we get commissioning at the right place, from the right people?”

12.12
David Cameron: “You should not charge ahead if you can’t garner public and professional support.”

He states that he does want to see hospital doctors and GPs saying that these are good principles.

Andrew Lansley claims that the number of NHS managers has risen three times as fast as the number of nurses over the past decade.

I am at the Three Amigos production in a Surrey hospital. Gary Gibbon, Channel 4 News Political Editor

Channel 4 News Political Editor Gary Gibbon writes: “I am at The Three Amigos production in a Surrey hospital, launching the Government listening process on NHS reforms.

“The PM, DPM and Health Seceretary are side by side… It’s very important David Cameron keeps Andrew Lansley onside – he has given him enormous responsibility with a charge, the NHS, he says is sacred.

“It would look like a colossal failure of judgement by Mr Cameron himself.

12.08

Andrew Lansley discuss the “willing provider” question. He says the government will not “advantage” the private sector, as under Labour.

“We don’t have a system of scrutiny… that extends into the private sector.”

Nick Clegg: “Until now there was no level playing field. Under the previous government they were actually rigging the market… which allowed the private contractors to undermine the NHS. We’re stopping that.”

He continues: “There will be no race to the bottom because it will not be price competition.”

Andrew Lansley: “Foundation trusts like Frimley Park… should be in a position themselves to be the leaders in that competition to be the leaders and the winners.”

12.03
Gary Gibbon of Channel 4 News asks: shouldn’t the government have had this “pause for thought” at the very beginning? And he continues: “At what point does a diluted NHS cease to become a dynamic force.”

David Cameron: “What we’re doing is evolution – we’re trying to take the best of the NHS and develop and evolve it.”

Andrew Lansley: “We now have people whose task it will be to provide the dynamism and clinical leadership – they didn’t exist a year ago.

“What they’ve been saying to us is that they want… multi-professional involvement in how they design services.”

12.00
David Cameron acknowledges: “We’re all responsible for these reforms… that is why we’re all going to be involved in this exercise.”

Nick Clegg: “This is about partly explaining what we’re NOT doing… The result of this will be to change some of the things… Then we can move forward, not just politically, but particularly people working in the NHS.”

Andrew Lansley: “We have to focus on outcomes… Devolving responsibility to the front line was critical.” He stresses that the NHS reform bill is to serve the NHS.

The Health Secretary continues: “Competition is a means to an end, it’s not an end in itself. It’s there to deliver the best care for patients… If it gets in the way, then it’s the wrong thing to do.”

11.56
Andrew Lansley concludes his speech. David Cameron now throws the discussion open to the assembled NHS workers.

A consultant respiratory physician says: your reforms talk about the role of the GP, but it’s unclear what the role of consultants is.

David Cameron agrees that this is “a very important question”. He explains that the reforms are about trying to decide that the decisions within the NHS are taken by those closest to the patient. He agrees that the government needs to re-engage on this issue.

Andrew Lansley:”We need to redesign the way we do things so we break down the primary-secondary care divide.

“If you want to design the best care… it’s a combination between community primary care services and specialisation within the hospital.”

11.52
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley takes the podium. He maintains there is widespread support for the principles of the coalition government’s proposals, with a relentless focus on what matters most: clinical outcomes.

“In the coming weeks we will pause, listen, engage.” The government will try to make sure there is the right sort of competition in the NHS – not competition for its own sake, he promises. “Fair competition that delivers better outcomes for patients.”

He continues: “Patients and the public must play an active role in their NHS… Care should be integrated and designed around the individual’s needs.”

“Third, commissioning should mean general practices coming together with their colleagues throughout the National Health Services.”

“And fourth, education and training – the new NHS… must give us the confidence we have the workforce we need.”

11.50
Nick Clegg promises involvement of patients, health professionals and local leaders. And he repeats: “There will be no privatisation of the NHS.”

11.49
Nick Clegg says the NHS changes amount to “evolution, not revolution”. He pledges more responsibility for the people who know patients best – the famil doctors. “Those ideas stay true to the ideas set out by its architect, the great Liberal William Beveridge.”

11.48
Deputy Prime Minsiter Nick Clegg announces: “This coalition government will not mess around with the principle that is at the heart of the NHS” – getting treatment when you need it, not when you can afford it.

11.47
“The status quo is not an option,” the prime minister asserts. “We will listen and we will make any necessary changes.”

11.45
Cameron announces that “We’ve got to make the NHS more effective – pumping in a bit more money and sticking with the status quo is not going to work”.

The change will involve “passing decision-making from bureaucrats to doctors and nurses”. He claims that in under a year the number of doctors in the NHS has increased by 2,500 and the number of managers has decreased by 3,000.

11.44
David Cameron says: “Every hour of every day, more than 25,000 people walk through the doors of a hospital or a surgery just like this in order to get treated.” But he warns that number will go up “quite radically” with the UK’s ageing population – the number of people over 85 is going to double in the next 20 years.

11.41
David Cameron tells the audience: “I believe passionately in our NHS – and I make no apologies about this. For me, this is a very personal thing. I know what it is like to rely on our National Health Service.”

He continues: “(The NHS) is the thing that matters most to Britain’s families.”

“We have an institution, a precious idea, that really shows we are all in it together… I’m in politics not to take risks with the NHS, not to threaten the NHS in any, but to safeguard and improve the NHS for future generations.”

1140
Channel 4 News reported yesterday that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told the Commons that the government’s flagship policy of replacing primary care trusts with GP-led consortia will not be enforced if doctors are not ready to take over responsibility for commissioning services by 2013.

11.17
David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley are due to visit a hospital in Surrey this morning as part of the “listening tour”.

11.00
The coalition government is embarking on a “listening exercise” to ease tension and engage with people over its plans for a major overhaul of the NHS.

At the weekend, Victoria Macdonald reported for Channel 4 News (see video below) that the government was said to be preparing to agree some changes to the NHS reform bill to appease the growing number of its critics.

But Downing Street has denied that the prime minister was rowing back on his commitment to the reforms.