Labour's NHS pledge

Ambitious plans to transform the National Health Service were unveiled today.

Tony Blair claimed waiting times for appointments and operations would be so dramatically reduced that they would soon cease to be a political issue.

He said: "Our aim is to reshape the NHS. Now is not the time to falter."

A five-year programme for the NHS presented to MPs promises patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from the time they see their family doctors to the time they undergo surgery. It is part of the Government's drive to convince voters that the NHS is safest in Labour's hands.

The plan makes health the key battleground for the next election.

It outlines a raft of improvements already made to the service, including huge increases in the number of doctors and nurses, a dramatic fall in patient waiting times for GP appointments and operations, more drugs for heart disease patients, and better pay and conditions for NHS staff. Mr Blair said: "Over the last seven years, we have overhauled and modernised the system, focusing on expanding and improving services and access to care and treatment.

"We make no apology for driving many of these reforms from the centre. Now we can move to the next stage to reshape the health service around the needs and aspirations of patients, not least because the speed of progress means waiting for treatment will reduce to the point where it is no longer the major issue for patients and the public."

A major theme of the plan is the provision of a more "personal" service.

Health chiefs say they will allow patients to record personal preferences for how they are treated by NHS staff on a computer file - stating how they wish to be addressed and whether they are happy for doctors and nurses to use their Christian names.

There are also plans for a sophisticated new electronic hospital appointment booking system, to be based in GPs' surgeries.

It would allow patients to fix a date

and time which suits them on the spot, rather than having to wait for the hospital to write to them.

Other key proposals confirmed in the plan are:

Health Secretary John Reid said: "Our objective is fairer, faster, better care to more people than ever before."

The plan states: "In 2008, England will have a very different health service from the one it has today.

"The NHS is set to thrive again by properly meeting the needs of patients and the public."