This is a discussion document not agreed policy.
- A new unified care system that combines health and defined social care components and specialised housing, having local democratic input from the Local Authorities with the Public Health Director having that role in an expanded Public Health organization with the NHCS and in the LA, to ensure the tightest of possible joint working.
- Social care will be offered on the basis of assessed need, free at the point of use, and funded from progressive taxation. Devolved administrations will have the freedom to develop their policies and approaches independently within this context.
- Universities and their teaching and health research functions will be seen as part of the NHS and will be part of our staff development and R&D arm, including predicting future staffing and workload demands.
- A care system in which prevention, assessment / diagnosis, intervention / treatment, and ongoing care support is evidence based and marked by co-production and cooperative joined up delivery with all core services delivered by health and social care providers. Third sector providers, supported by grants, can be a positive addition. Commercial providers will still be a part of the system supplying goods or equipment. Commercial providers of any patient care services will only be permitted in specified exceptional circumstances and should be subject to the same rules and guidelines as the Health and Care Service, and other public services in terms of responsibilities, accountability and transparency. Commercial Confidentiality is unlikely to be justified. In the longer term, we would aim for commercial providers of core services to be limited to exceptional cases, where it is in the best interests of service users and patients
- Management of, and accountability for the National Health and Care Service would be the responsibility of each Minister of the four governments within the UK, with each once more responsible for ensuring the provision of the system as a whole, a national framework and national standards, including clinical, employment of staff, protections for staff, training of staff, patient safety, quality of services, and encompassing the duties of NICE etc.
- Most planning and delivery would be on a local basis, but bound to a minimum by national standards and requirements.