Conservative leader David Cameron today pledged to expand "patient power", as he set out the party's priorities for the NHS. Skip related content
Cameron said the health service would be protected under spending cuts, if a Conservative government were to take power at the next general election.
Without protecting the NHS he would not be able to maintain public support for a wider spending squeeze, he said.
In a speech to the Royal College of Pathologists today, he said the Conservatives would rename the Department of Health to the "Department of Public Health", to ensure it is committed to improving the health of the entire nation.
Cameron stated that the current annual bill for administering the NHS of £4.5bn is "astonishing", and that it must be slashed by a third across the next four years.
The Conservatives would boost foundation trusts and also give the private sector an equal chance to bid for NHS contracts.
He criticised health secretary Andy Burnham for recently saying that the NHS will always be the "preferred provider".
And "top-down targets" introduced by Labour would be scrapped.
Instead public health outcome data will be collected and published so patients can analyse which hospitals provide the best services.
"Spending on the NHS cannot stand still. But that does not mean we are simply going to pour money in as Labour have done," he said.
"If we change nothing, and if productivity keeps falling at the rate it is today, then even with real-terms increases in spending we couldn't hope to cope with the pressures on the NHS.
"That's why, as well as those increases, we urgently need reform to make our whole health service more efficient.
"We are determined that a Conservative pound will go much further than a Labour pound."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the Northern Hemisphere, global health officials said on Friday, but they cautioned it was far from over.
