Press release: Response to Dr Reid - if equality agenda is to be made real it is time to move the focus from elective surgery to chronic disease

26 Jun 2003

Responding to John Reid's speech on his direction of travel at our annual conference, the Confederation expressed relief that it signalled no major change in direction, but rather a change in emphasis around equality, and called for him to shift the debate from elective surgery to chronic disease in order to deliver on the equality agenda. Dr Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said "If we are really interested in equality then we must shift the focus to chronic disease - this is where the real action is for delivering on the equality agenda.  We will be watching to see whether the balance of future speeches by Reid will be on chronic disease rather than elective surgery."
"We recognise this is a major challenge because the focus has been on elective care for too long, but it would reap huge rewards not only for the 17.5 million people with chronic disease but for the whole healthcare system."
For this reason the Confederation launched today a debate paper - "Chronic disease: the hidden health agenda" -  to highlight the need to shift the focus towards the needs of the large part of the population suffering from long-term conditions. 
Gill commented that NHS managers had called for the new Secretary of State to give the service a period of stability to get on with the job of improving services. "It is always tempting for a new Secretary of State to come in and start reorganising or changing priorities, so we are grateful that this speech marks a welcome shift in emphasis to equality but has no major change in direction.  NHS management will be able to get on with delivering the radical reform agenda which is proving successful in delivering results for patients." 
She challenged the Secretary of State to maintain this approach, give NHS managers the freedoms and space to get on with the job, permission to innovate and take risks, and a new approach to targets.  "We share his goal to turn the radical policies into radical, practical implementation on the ground and welcome his commitment to free up professionals and managers to make these changes. We will be looking to Dr Reid to provide this leadership."

ENDS

Notes for editors

1. The NHS Confederation represents the organisations that make up the NHS. Our members include the majority of NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities in
2. The annual conference runs from Wednesday 25th-Friday 27th June at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow. The Rt Hon John Reid MP will deliver his first major speech as Secretary of State for Health at 4.30pm.  Copies of the speech will be available from the Confederation press office.
3. 'Chronic Disease Management: The Hidden Health Agenda'  sets out some of the initiatives that are already underway to ensure that the needs of these patients are met, but calls for more far-reaching change to put chronic conditions at the heart of the health agenda. It calls for further action in six priority areas:

• Changing the public debate - from an over-emphasis on elective surgery to a focus on creating a service designed to meet the needs of the vast numbers of people with chronic conditions;
• Putting patients in control - by ensuring patients are equipped with information about their condition and treatment, with a real choice of where and how they access services;
• Making care more systematic - so that repeat service users have their ongoing the care tailored to their needs;
• Investing in information - to enable more systematic care and better patient choice;
• Integrating provision - so that the patient experience is as seamless as possible;
• New staff roles and team working - so that services are better tailored to patients' conditions.

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