Gordon lands the King’s blessing for healthcare guarantees

Richard Robinson‘s Speech Bubble

The King has spoken. Amongst this week’s eclectic news mix of electoral reform, MPs’ expenses and rather questionable Toyota cars, the Prime Minister yesterday received a welcome endorsement from the King’s Fund to a speech he delivered on Labour’s Plan for the NHS.

Listed on Gordon Brown’s menu was a key commitment as part of Labour’s election manifesto to accelerate NHS reform with new legally enforceable patient guarantees.

Specific health commitments outlined by Brown included:

* A cancer guarantee to see a specialist within 2 weeks of referral by a GP and to receive all cancer test results within 1 week.

* A waiting times guarantee, that all patients will be offered hospital treatment within no more than 18 weeks of seeing their GP.

* A GP access guarantee, that all patients will be able to register with a GP open into evenings and weekends.

* A guarantee of a regular health check on the NHS for everyone over 40.

* In the care system, a guarantee that all those with the highest needs being looked after in their own homes will receive free personal care.

A warm statement of approval from the King’s Fund acting Chief Executive Anna Dixon concluded:

“A promise of test results within a week is an impressive commitment that will certainly be appreciated by cancer patients at what is a very stressful time in their lives.”

An increasingly confident and ebullient Brown described these moves as part of a wider drive to reform community healthcare, and personalise public services. For Brown and Labour it is not enough to have “targets” for providing care to those who need it. “To be truly free of worry, to be able get on with your lives, you need firm assurances”, he said.

Ever so quietly, Labour’s vision – to cut the deficit fairly, not cut taxes for the privileged few; to protect frontline services, not put them at risk; to secure growth, not choke off recovery – together with Gordon Brown’s serious demeanour is all combining to continually peg back the once rampant Tory lead in the polls.

How does all of this really leave the Conservative Party?

Just take the health issue: incredibly, David Cameron has pledged to scrap the patient guarantees including the right to see a cancer specialist in 2 weeks. Hardly that new omnipresent “compassionate Conservatism” everybody once seemed to be in love with.

In a mess last week on crime figures, all over the place on marriage and tax, incoherent on substantive plans for the economy – who knows where DC’s latest flip is flopping?