PM: NHS is our priority
Thursday, 03 Jan 2008 12:10
The NHS will be the government's priority in the coming year, the prime minister has pledged.
In a message to staff to mark the 60th anniversary of the NHS, Gordon Brown praised the "improved care" and "higher standard of service" the NHS is delivering.
"The NHS remains our priority not just because it has been fundamental to our past, but because a renewed NHS will be even more important to our future and that of our children," he said.
His letter came at a start of the year marked by increased political focus on the health service, with the main parties seeking to promote themselves as the party of the NHS.
Conservative leader David Cameron said his party will "work tirelessly…to deserve the trust of the patients and staff of the NHS" in 2008 and outlined a number of policies for the NHS.
While Mr Cameron proposes withholding money from hospitals which fail to prevent infections such as MRSA, the prime minister said the government would "do all we can" to support staff in reducing infection rates.
"We have committed additional investment to MRSA screening and deep-cleaning of our wards in order to help you," he added.
Reforms to be outlined in the coming year will "create a better NHS", Mr Brown said, arguing that they will make the service "more personal and responsive to individual needs".
"I believe these are steps vital to securing the health of the NHS for the next 60 years," the prime minister added.
"They will require a broadening and a deepening of reform to ensure that the NHS as a whole attaches the same priority to a personal and preventative service as many of you already reflect in your own day-to-day decisions. And I believe they will transform the experience of the NHS for millions of people in this country."
