NHS targets slashed to stop 'tick box culture'

Dozens of key national targets for the NHS were ditched today in what critics called a major U-turn.

Health Secretary John Reid today slashed the number of targets set by Whitehall from more than 60 to 20. The move followed complaints that hospitals were being smothered in red tape while a "tick-box culture" was getting in the way of patient care.

Dr Reid said many of the targets would be replaced by "core standards" next year and pledged there would be no loss of quality.

Among a handful of new benchmarks is a pledge to cut the rate of MRSA "superbug" infections every year.

Dr Reid also confirmed a maximum 18-week waiting time from GP referral to hospital treatment, plus plans to cut deaths from heart disease, strokes and suicide.

Health chiefs have also been charged with halting the yearon-year rise in obesity among children under 11 by 2010.

Many of the old targets were set in 2000 and Dr Reid said they had mostly been met.