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Tories to set out plans for NHS More single rooms in NHS - Tories
(about 2 hours later)
The Conservatives are to set out their plans to reform the NHS, saying they will give more choice to patients and more powers to health professionals. The Conservatives are promising a large rise in the number of single rooms in NHS hospitals to help tackle infections and improve patient experiences.
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley will tell the party conference that more competition will bring benefits while guaranteeing free care for all. All expectant mothers will be offered a single room if they want one, as will patients on mental health wards, health spokesman Andrew Lansley will announce.
The plan to create 45,000 extra single rooms by the end of the first term of a Tory government will cost about £1.5bn.
Opposition parties have said the Tories have no new ideas to improve the NHS.
'Patient dignity'
On his speech to the Conservatives' annual conference in Birmingham, Mr Lansley will say: "Labour has failed to meet targets on providing more single rooms in new hospitals and increasing single-sex accommodation across the NHS."
We hope that the proposals we are announcing will make a big difference in removing unnecessary stress for patients and their families Andrew Lansley, Conservatives
He will add: "No-one should be forced to suffer the indignity of staying on a mixed sex ward."
Under the Tory plans, the number of rooms set aside for treating people with hospital-acquired infections will be increased by 7%.
In a further guarantee, all patients admitted for planned care - excluding children - will have the option of having a single room.
The Tories estimate that about 93,200 single room beds will be needed, up from the 48,000 now available.
On the basis of recent and existing schemes to create single hospital rooms, the party believes the project will require annual expenditure of £314m over five years.
"By giving NHS patients the choice of a single room when they book their operation, we will ensure that they will be treated with the dignity they deserve," Mr Lansley will say.
"Any stay in a hospital is a traumatic and trying time. We hope that the proposals we are announcing will make a big difference in removing unnecessary stress for patients and their families."
Political fight
The Tories are trying to gain political ground on the NHS, long regarded as a core Labour issue, by accusing the government of wasting billions of pounds on bureaucracy and letting patients down.
In his speech, Mr Lansley will also outline plans to give more choice to patients and more powers to health professionals.
Focusing on treatment outcomes rather than central targets will mean money is better spent, he will add.Focusing on treatment outcomes rather than central targets will mean money is better spent, he will add.
Labour said it saw "little new" in the Conservative proposals. At a Tory conference fringe meeting on Sunday, frontbench spokesman Oliver Letwin said a free NHS remained a "treasured principle" but that patients should have more choice of providers within the health service.
'Different arrangement'
The Tories are trying to gain political ground on the NHS, regarded as a core Labour issue, by accusing the government of wasting billions of pounds on bureaucracy and letting patients down.
Ahead of Mr Lansley's speech, the party stressed that ensuring the NHS remained free at the point of use was a "treasured principle".
But frontbench spokesman Oliver Letwin said patients should have more choice of providers within the NHS, while doctors and nurses should be making important decisions, not managers.
"We believe it is possible to achieve a completely different arrangement of things in which, instead of targets descending from on top, we have a system in which professionals are allowed to get on with the job," he told a fringe meeting in Birmingham.
Labour said it was already encouraging choice in the health service and accused the opposition of wanting to scrap key waiting time targets for consultation and treatment.Labour said it was already encouraging choice in the health service and accused the opposition of wanting to scrap key waiting time targets for consultation and treatment.
The Liberal Democrats said the Tories were offering "nothing new" and would make the NHS less accountable to those paying for it.