Future NHS changes clinically driven, says Darzi

Health minister Lord Darzi has warned the NHS to prove that any service reconfiguration with help save lives and improve health outcomes.

In his latest report 'Leading Local Change' published last week Lord Darzi says that 'important checks' will be placed on the NHS before it is allowed to change services.

The report pledged that all changes in the future to the NHS will be clinically driven and led by clinicians and patients.

Lord Darzi said: 'The right way of doing this is to put local clinicians in the lead, with the public and relevant independent experts consulted and involved at an early stage'.

He said that the focus of his next stage review of the NHS, which will be published in July, will focus on how to enable local clinicians and patients to be the 'driving force' of improvement and change in the NHS.

Every strategic health authority will now publish a 'clinically led vision' document setting out priorities for improving health and healthcare in the next ten years.

Unison's head of health Karen Jennings, said: 'When the final report is published we want an NHS that is fit for the next 10 years, not one that would be split by the private sector ethos of competition and profit.'

Responses to Lord Darzi's separate Healthcare for London consultation also published last week raised concerns over the role of the private sector.