John Baron MP addresses cancer conference and says skirmishes over Government’s NHS reforms have been a distraction

MP: the new focus on outcomes remains the big idea

Today John Baron MP was a guest speaker at the National Cancer Intelligence Network’s [NCIN] annual conference. Over 500 people were in attendance drawn from across the NHS, cancer charities, Government officials, patients and other stakeholders. John’s key message was that the twists and turns regarding NHS reforms have been an unnecessary distraction from what remains the most important big idea in the reforms – and that is the focus on outcomes.

John said:

“The three big ideas in these NHS reforms are a new focus on outcomes, a renewed focus on patient empowerment, and change to the commissioning structure. Although many of us were critical about GP commissioning, this was always a red herring. What has always been the most important aspect of these reforms is the new focus on outcomes.”

“The focus on outcomes – measuring survival rates and how well patients have been treated – will above all else encourage and force the NHS to raise its game. Partly because of political preference, for too long the NHS has been focused on process based targets and less focused on the actual quality of care. The emphasis has been on throughput at the expense of just how well patients are being treated. To now focus the NHS on outcomes is the major innovation of these reforms.”

“Luckily this most important idea is the one on which both Tories and Liberals can agree. Good fortune too that the NHS Future Forum made no suggested changes to this focus on outcomes, having found enthusiasm across the NHS for the idea. It is just a pity that, in the tribal politics which can sometimes dominate Parliamentary business, the Labour Party has so far not recognised this fact as well.”

Notes to Editors

For more detail please refer to http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2011/06/john-baron-mp-skirmishes-over-the-governments-nhs-reforms-have-been-a-distraction-the-new-focus-on-o.html