NHS 'still has a way to go'

Health services are improving but there is "still a way to go", NHS chiefs were told today.

"Significant and sustained" improvement is under way, according to the NHS Modernisation Board. However, better access to care must be provided outside hospitals.

The board stresses the need for continued investment and the need for wider improvements in fitness, nutrition and disease prevention.

In its report, being presented to Prime Minister Tony Blair and Health Secretary John Reid at Downing Street, the board says services are dramatically better than when the 10-year NHS Plan was outlined in July 2000.

Four years on, the report concludes: "Significant and sustained improvement is clearly under way in the NHS.

"Patient surveys indicate high levels of satisfaction with services, even though the public in general continue to be sceptical."

The independent board, which advises the Health Secretary on implementation of the NHS Plan, says that while change is taking place in all sectors, it is not taking place at the same pace everywhere.

It said: "We found encouraging evidence reflecting that shift in the approach to care. There is, however, a long way to go before everyone, everywhere, is receiving the kind of treatment we would want for our families and ourselves."