One in 10 NHS ops to be done privately

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt trumpeted improvements in cancer and heart services in her first speech in her new post but also warned she plans to continue the fast pace of reform of the NHS.

She immediately announced plans for one in 10 operations to be carried out in the private sector but paid for by the NHS, which critics have said could destabilise the service.

Over the next five years £3 billion will be spent on 1.7 million private operations, mostly orthopaedic, ear nose and throat and urology.

Fears have been raised that NHS hospitals will suffer as patients are diverted into the private sector after the Evening Standard revealed that Ravenscourt Park Hospital in Chiswick had shut a ward due to lack of patients.

Ms Hewitt also published today the latest report from NHS Chief Executive Sir Nigel Crisp which hails improvements to services. But the document says little about areas where the service is not performing well, such as the increas in operations cancelled at the last minute and slow improvements in areas not subject to targets.

Sir Nigel's report shows that:

More than 99 per cent of suspected cancer patients are seen by a specialist within two weeks of referral, and over 97 per cent of women with breast cancer receive treatment within a month of diagnosis.

British men have had the world's sharpest fall in lung cancer deaths, and British women the biggest decrease in breast cancer deaths.

By the end of January 2005, no one was waiting more than three months for their first cataract operation.

The target to treat heart patients within three months was met in March 2005, three years ahead of schedule.

Ms Hewitt said: "This report should give patients, staff and taxpayers great encouragement. These are significant achievements. They are a result of the extra investment we've been putting into the system, our programme of reform, and the dedication and hard work of NHS staff." Maura Gillespie, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said: "This is great progress, but it has only enabled us to catch up to where we should have been many years ago."

Ms Hewitt said her appointment marks the half-way point in the ten-year programme of reform of the health service.

She said: "We need to focus on achieving our pledge to reduce the maximum waiting time to 18 weeks, we need to transform the system to give patients more choice and more control, and we need to press on with tackling MRSA."

Sir Nigel Crisp said: "Since the NHS Plan was published, the main focus has been on increasing capacity. We are now able to concentrate on guaranteeing that the services we deliver are of a high level."