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Spending Review
To transform the health and social care system so that it produces faster, fairer services that deliver better health and tackle health inequalities.
Objective I: improving health outcomes for everyone.
1. Reduce substantially the mortality rates from major killers by 2010: from heart disease by at least 40% in people under 75; from cancer by at least 20% in people under 75; and from suicide and undetermined injury by at least 20%. Key to the delivery of this target will be implementing the National Service Frameworks for Coronary Heart Disease and Mental Health and the National Cancer Plan.
2. Narrow the health gap between socio-economic groups and between the most deprived areas and the rest of the country, in childhood and throughout life. Specific national targets will be developed in consultation with external stakeholders and experts and published in 2001 in time to become fully operational by the beginning of 2002-03.
Objective II: improving patient and carer experience of the NHS and Social Services.
3. Treat patients at a time that suits them in accordance with their medical need: two thirds of all outpatient appointments and inpatient planned admissions will be pre-booked by 2003-04, on the way to 100% pre-booking by 2005.
4. Reduce the maximum wait for an outpatient appointment to three months, and the maximum wait for inpatient treatment to six months by the end of 2005.
5. Secure year on year improvements in patient satisfaction, including with standards of cleanliness and food, as measured by independently audited local surveys.
Objective III: effective delivery of appropriate care.
6. Provide high quality pre-admission and rehabilitation care to older people to help them live as independently as possible, by reducing preventable hospitalisation and ensuring year on year reductions in delays in moving people over 75 on from hospital. At least 130,000 people are expected to benefit from this care. Progress will be monitored in the Performance Assessment Framework.
7. Improve the life chances of children in care by:
8. Increase the participation of problem drug users in drug treatment programmes by 55% by 2004 (by 66% by 2005 and by 100% by 2008). Target contributing to Action Against Illegal Drugs PSA.
Objective IV: fair access.
9. Guaranteed access to a primary care professional within 24 hours, and to a primary care doctor within 48 hours by 2004.
10. The cost of care commissioned from Trusts which perform well against indicators of fair access, quality and responsiveness, will become the benchmark for the NHS. All will be expected to reach the level of the best over the next five years, with agreed milestones for 2003-04.
The Secretary of State for Health is responsible for the delivery of the targets set out in this PSA.
The Minister for Public Health has day to day responsibility for the work of the Sure Start unit. The Secretary of State for Education and Employment is responsible at Cabinet level for the unit. PSA targets for the Sure Start unit can be found in chapter 20.
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