Progress on NHS reform 'slow'

The Government is in denial about the progress of its NHS reforms, a report has said.

While the commitment to changing the NHS is right, progress on the ground has been slow, it said.

The study, published by the right-wing think-tank Reform, used international research to compare the NHS with other countries. It found a "cradle to the grave gap" in areas like quality of care, access to care and cleanliness of hospitals.

The Department of Health's claims of reform are a national mantra rather than local reality, it went on.

Significant changes in the interests of patients have not been adequately driven by reforms while managers have been forced by the Department of Health's agenda to focus on the short term rather than the medium term, it added.

The study said trends suggested a decline in the service, especially with the slowing down of growth in the NHS budget, but this was not inevitable.

Creating an economic constitution for the service that defines a duty to create value "at all levels" could stimulate progress, it said.

Nick Bosanquet, professor of health policy at Imperial College London and a consultant director of Reform, said: "The Department of Health's strategic challenge is to transform the quality of NHS care within a foreseeable future of tightly-limited resources.

"The NHS does not need a charter which amounts to a statement of good intentions. It needs an economic constitution which gives every level of the service the duty to achieve value for money."

Andrew Haldenby, director of Reform and a co-author, said: "In his major speech on the NHS in January, the Prime Minister said that reform was all but in place and the service could move on to tackling issues such as obesity. In fact, reform has barely left the starting gate."