Jeremy Hunt MP: Build a culture of personalised care in health and care system
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt reflected on his first two years in office and called on the NHS to go further in pushing through cultural changes relating to personal care and personal control during the second Health Care Forum on Sunday evening.
Addressing a packed hall, the secretary of state began by speaking about the privilege of serving in office for two years and how humbled he had been by the response of the profession to both the Francis report and the Government’s programme of reforms.
He acknowledged the challenging circumstances facing the health and social care system but highlighted the achievements made in the last four years, most notably in cancer survival rates and dementia research.
Hunt explained why he was hopeful about the future of the NHS and pointed to two reforms the Government had introduced that would place the NHS on a more secure footing: integration and patient data.
He stated that the Better Care Fund had already proved a success with more than 150 local authorities sitting down and working with their local NHS like never before. Joined up working between the health and social care system would become the norm, Hunt added.
By the end of March, access to patient medical records would allow the health system to push through innovation and embrace the technological revolution that had yet to penetrate the NHS.
While important strides had been made, the secretary of state argued that the system needed to go further, particularly in driving through cultural change throughout the NHS in the wake of Mid Staffs.
A Conservative Government in 2015 would seek to build a culture of personalised care throughout the health and social care system - a system where the individual was known at each point of contact he or she had with the NHS.
Hunt would also seek to build a culture in which the patient was in control of their own healthcare. Personal budgets were one aspect of moving away from the paternalistic nature of the NHS.
This report was written by Joel Blackwell, health and care specialist at Dods Monitoring.
