Health Bill
The voice of patients and the role of doctors will be strengthened in the National Health Service
The purpose of the Bill is to: •Implement the Government’s proposals for a sustainable national framework for the NHS; to support a patient led NHS focused on outcomes; and to deliver on the commitment to reduce bureaucracy.
The main benefits of the Bill would be:
•To create an NHS led by clinical decision-makers that is more responsive to patients and fosters continuous quality improvements.
•To help shape a healthcare system which drives up standards of care, eliminates waste and achieves outcomes that are amongst the best in the world.
•To focus more on patients, ensuring they genuinely share in making decisions about their care and have more choice and control.
The main elements of the Bill are: •To establish an independent NHS Board to allocate resources and provide commissioning guidance, and to allow GPs to commission services on behalf of their patients.
•To improve efficiency and outcomes by strengthening the role of the Care Quality Commission and developing Monitor into an economic regulator to oversee aspects of access and competition in the NHS.
•To take forward proposals to significantly cut the number of health quangos, helping cut the cost of NHS administration by a third.
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