§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how the Government will ensure that the National 861W Service Framework for Long Term Conditions is given sufficient priority by primary care trusts; and what the reasons were for the decision not to set milestones and targets. [138461]
§ Dr. LadymanOur strategy to support delivery of the NHS Plan is to set a clear national framework of standards backed up by strong inspection regimes and increasingly to give more responsibility to front-line health and social services providers so that local organisations have more flexibility and freedom to plan, resource and deliver services. As a result we set fewer central targets. Progress in policy areas not directly linked to national targets can be monitored and driven forward in a number of ways, for example
Primary care trusts can set local targets and performance manage progress locally.The Commission for Health Improvement (to become, subject to legislation, the Commission for Healthcare, Audit and Inspection) and the Social Services Inspectorate (to become, again subject to legislation, the Commission for Social Care Inspection) will take account of nationally set standards including national service frameworks when inspecting hospitals and other providers, and may undertake themed inspections.
Patients' forums will be able to identify where services are not meeting the standards.
Patient feedback, both informal and formal (for example, patient surveys), will provide a local means of identifying shortfalls in services.
Policies like the expert patients programme and the patients choice programme are also giving people an increasing say in local services and their own treatment.