Campaigning today
Two good campaigning sessions today: we were canvassing in St Bees and in Distington wards and had a fairly friendly reception in both.
Quote of the day -
"You're the first actual candidate of any party I've seen in 37 years."
(That was in Distington ward.)
I was also on Radio Cumbria this morning in a discussion on Health.
One issue which was raised in that debate related to a Conservative promise which was extremely controversial when something similar was in our last manifesto, but has hardly come up at all this time, perhaps because Labour are proposing something similar, and it related to our policy to allow patients to choose any provider who meets NHS standards within the NHS price.
The relevant section of the Conservative manifesto reads as follows:
Give patients more choice
We understand the pressures the NHS faces, so we will increase health spending in real terms every year. But on its own this will not be enough to deliver the rising standards of care that people expect. We need to allow patients to choose the best care available, giving healthcare providers the incentives they need to drive up quality.
So we will give every patient the power to choose any healthcare provider that meets NHS standards, within NHS prices. This includes independent, voluntary and community sector providers.
We will make patients’ choices meaningful by:
• putting patients in charge of making decisions about their care, including control
of their health records;
• spreading the use of the NHS tariff, so funding follows patients’ choices; and,
• making sure good performance is rewarded by implementing a payment by results
system, improving quality.
We will publish detailed data about the performance of healthcare providers online, so everyone will know who is providing a good service and who is falling behind, and we will measure our success on the health results that really matter – such as improving cancer and stroke survival rates or reducing hospital infections.
Quote of the day -
"You're the first actual candidate of any party I've seen in 37 years."
(That was in Distington ward.)
I was also on Radio Cumbria this morning in a discussion on Health.
One issue which was raised in that debate related to a Conservative promise which was extremely controversial when something similar was in our last manifesto, but has hardly come up at all this time, perhaps because Labour are proposing something similar, and it related to our policy to allow patients to choose any provider who meets NHS standards within the NHS price.
The relevant section of the Conservative manifesto reads as follows:
Give patients more choice
We understand the pressures the NHS faces, so we will increase health spending in real terms every year. But on its own this will not be enough to deliver the rising standards of care that people expect. We need to allow patients to choose the best care available, giving healthcare providers the incentives they need to drive up quality.
So we will give every patient the power to choose any healthcare provider that meets NHS standards, within NHS prices. This includes independent, voluntary and community sector providers.
We will make patients’ choices meaningful by:
• putting patients in charge of making decisions about their care, including control
of their health records;
• spreading the use of the NHS tariff, so funding follows patients’ choices; and,
• making sure good performance is rewarded by implementing a payment by results
system, improving quality.
We will publish detailed data about the performance of healthcare providers online, so everyone will know who is providing a good service and who is falling behind, and we will measure our success on the health results that really matter – such as improving cancer and stroke survival rates or reducing hospital infections.
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