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Health See other Health Articles Title: Patients promised six new rights to NHS treatment [I thought UK patients were already had lotsa rights and were ENTITLED to yummy FREE health care up the wazoo] In a shift in emphasis on public services which sees central targets replaced by new "entitlements", patients will receive a legal right to hospital care within 18 weeks, along with free check-ups for the over-40s and guaranteed access to cancer treatments. They will also be promised the right to die at home if they suffer from a long-term condition, treatment from an NHS dentist and to be treated in accident and emergency departments within four hours. Local residents will also be given priority over immigrants and people from other areas on council housing queues, In addition, parents are due to receive a "statement of entitlement" telling them what they can demand from their child's education. The Prime Minister's Building Britain's Future document is designed to underline Labour's continued commitment to public sector reform, which was seen to have drifted under Mr Brown in contrast to the enthusiasm of his predecessor, Tony Blair. Critics say, however, that the relaunch owes more to the party's continued unpopularity in the polls and the Prime Minister's personal struggle to remain in his post. The new housing policy is likely to lead to accusations that Mr Brown is pandering to the British National Party, which saw its best ever electoral performance at this month's local and European elections while Labour slumped at the polls. Access to council housing and social accommodation has been a key recruiting tool for the BNP, amid disputed claims that immigrants have been allowed to jump waiting lists. At the weekend, Paul Richards, an adviser to Hazel Blears, the former Communities Secretary who walked out of the Cabinet earlier this month, warned of a lack of concrete policies for Labour activists to champion on the doorstep in the run-up to the general election. To counter this, Mr Brown will insist that the document contains tangible measures which will make a difference to the lives of patients, parents and local residents, as well as heralding a philosophical shift in the way public services are delivered. The Prime Minister plans to announce new funding for the construction of thousands more social and affordable homes across the country. Councils will be given greater flexibility in how they allocate housing, with more weight accorded to those who have grown up in a particular area, or been on the waiting list for a long time. Immigrants and other people who wished to move into an area where they had few links would be moved down the priority list – a policy which will raise concern among Labour backbenchers who have warned the leadership not to get panicked into populist policies by the BNPs recent electoral success. But the announcement will be welcomed in rural areas, where there are increasing complaints that young people are unable to find homes in the villages where they grew up. In health care, Mr Brown is set to announce three new legal entitlements, with the current target for hospitals of providing patients with treatment by a specialist within 18 weeks of GP referral put on a statutory basis. If there was no capacity at the hospital to provide treatment, managers would have to refer them to an alternative NHS hospital, or pay for them to go private. Hospitals would also be legally obliged to provide cancer patients with an NHS specialist within two weeks of being referred by a GP or fund them to be seen privately. Free health checkups for the over-40s, to detect heart problems, the potential for strokes, diabetes, and kidney disease, which have been rolled out across the country over the last year, would also be put on a statutory footing. While ministers do not anticipate that patients would regularly resort to the courts to get treatment, by changing target to legal entitlements Government sources said that the expectation was that health trusts would take their responsibilities more seriously. Yvette Cooper, the Work and Pensions Secretary, denied that the new entitlements would create a ``lawyers' charter''. She added: "People in their own local towns and cities do want to know that their services are listening to what they want. "It's getting that local focus, at the heart of public services, to drive improvements in the future." As part of the new agenda, parents will be issued with a statement of entitlement, setting out what families can expect, with a guarantee of extra tuition at both primary level and in the first years of secondary school for pupils who fall behind. See also: "Quarter of a million people waiting more than 18 weeks for NHS treatment" 08/14/09 www.telegraph.co.uk/healt...hs-for-NHS-treatment.html Some cut and paste: ...The disclosure of the statistics comes just three days after Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, claimed there were no longer any waiting lists in the NHS.... [LOL!] AND "Patients 'to get legal right to free private health care on NHS': Patients will be given the legal right to free private health treatment paid for by the NHS under plans to be announced in the next Queen’s Speech" 10/31/09 www.telegraph.co.uk/healt...e-health-care-on-NHS.html Some cut and paste: ...Currently, patients are receive a choice from a range of NHS, independent and private provision only at the outset of their treatment. They cannot change their minds even when their treatment is delayed beyond the existing target time limits... AND "Queen's Speech: NHS patients to have legal right to demand drugs or treatments available elsewhere in the country" www.telegraph.co.uk/news/...where-in-the-country.html Some cut and paste: ...The NHS Constitution is expected to enshrine the universal right to approved treatments if they are deemed "clinically appropriate". It is hoped it will end the so-called postcode lottery in health care....
Poster Comment: This flies in the face of what we heard from the socialist groupies about how marvie socialized medicine is and how the "preventative" [gag] and egalitarian [universally mediocre] nature of health care for Brits makes them way more healthier than us. Whatever...it appears that the British voters have finally run out of patience with the NHS' system of "postcode lottery in health care."
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