Ofsted-style ratings for cancer care in every area
CANCER, maternity and dementia care are to be given Ofsted- style ratings under Tory plans to root out the worst performing areas of the country.
From next summer, all 211 local health groups will be given grades of ‘outstanding’ through to ‘inadequate’ for six services, in a similar system to school inspections.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has also vowed to slash GPs’ bureaucracy to such an extent that they will have an extra two hours a week to see patients.
He claimed this would create an extra 15million appointments a year at a time when it is becoming increas- ingly difficult to get a consultation. The plans are aimed at improving GP services and making the NHS more transparent by giving patients as much information as possible about healthcare in their area.
Only yesterday figures showed that 10,000 cancer cases a year are being diagnosed too late due to a postcode lottery caused by variations in care and awareness.
Experts said this was partly due to patients being reluctant to seek help, as well as doctors failing to spot the early warning signs.
Ministers say that the information will enable patients to decide to travel further afield if the care for a particular service they need is inade- quate. From next June, the 211 Clinical Commissioning Groups will be ranked as either outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate for services for cancer, dementia, maternity, mental health, diabetes and learning disabilities.
Currently hospitals and GP surgeries are rated in this way by the Care Quality Commission watchdog but not local areas.
This would be the first time patients’ localities are ranked for individual services. Patients will be able to see the grades on the MyNHS section of the NHS Choices website.
Mr Hunt said: ‘By being more transparent than ever before about crucial services and freeing up more time for GPs to care, we really can make NHS patients the most powerful in the world.’
Analysis by Cancer research UK published yesterday found that in some areas, patients were up to four times more likely to have tumours picked up before they had spread to other organs.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee said: ‘We do not believe that simplistic Ofsted- style ratings will lead to any improvement in patient care or give an accurate picture of services in local areas.’
On the pledge to slash bureaucracy, he said: ‘This is a step in the right direction, but we do need to make sure the Government also addresses the wider pressures on GP services.’
‘More transparent than ever before’