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Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS The NHS White Paper, sets out the Government's long-term vision for the future of the NHS. The vision builds on the core values and principles of the NHS - a comprehensive service, available to all, free at the point of use, based on need, not ability to pay. It sets out how they will:
The Department is consulting on elements of these proposals. Details on how to respond can be found in the White Paper. Relevant extracts from the NHS White Paper relating to the Patient and Public Voice & HealthWatch, click here To view the " Equity & excellence: liberating the NHS" in full, click here Transparency in outcomes - a framework for the NHS, click here Local democratic legitimacy in Health consultation, click here Commissioning for Patients consultation, click here Report of the arms-length bodies review, click here Regulating healthcare providers, click here The British Medical Association (BMA) have written a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the NHS White Paper, click here The BMA have produce comprehensive summaries NHS White Paper consultation documents, to read the summaries: Transparency in outcomes - a framework for the NHS, click here Local democratic legitimacy in Health consultation, click here Commissioning for Patients consultation, click here Regulating healthcare providers, click here Report of the arm's-length bodies review, click here Regional Voices for an informed connected influential Third Sector has published a briefing paper on the NHS White Paper, click here  Radical shake-up of the current welfare system Millions of people abandoned on welfare will benefit from the most radical overhaul of the system in a century, as Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith set out plans on Friday 30th July 2010 to revolutionise the existing benefits system, the proposals set out within the document are open for consultation until Friday 1st October 2010. Set out in a Command Paper entitled 21st Century Welfare are a series of options which focus on ensuring work always pays and is clearly seen to pay, they include allowing people to keep more of what they earn as they move into work whilst withdrawing benefits at a single, more reasonable rate as people start to earn more money. Launching the paper at a visit to the Bromley by Bow centre in East London Iain Duncan Smith said: "A system developed to help the most vulnerable and support people in times of need is trapping people in a cycle of dependency. We now have children growing up in households where neither parent works and where the only future is one stuck on benefits. This is a tragedy that we must bring to an end. "We are proposing to change forever how the system works. Not tinkering around the edges but a fundamental change from the top to bottom. Making it easier to help people into work, fairer to those who pay for the welfare state and continuing to provide unconditional support to those who need it. "This will affect everybody which is why I want everyone with a view on the way forward to contribute. I believe these changes will make work pay and end the poverty of aspiration that has trapped too many people for generations." The options in the document could see a major reform of the number and type of Tax Credits and benefits available and the way in which they are withdrawn when people move and progress in the workplace. They would: Combine elements of the current income-related benefits and Tax Credit systems; bring out-of-work and in-work support together in a far simpler system & supplement monthly household earnings through credit payments reflecting circumstances (including children, housing and disability). The system could improve incentives to get a job as people would see no reduction in their benefit until they earn over a certain level, over a certain level of income a taper would be applied to reduce benefit. This taper would apply to earnings, rather than number of hours worked. It could remove the very high Marginal Deduction Rates, ensuring that work pays for everyone and encouraging people to progress in their employment by not limiting the hours people can work, the payment system will be modern and automated, bringing it into line with the standards we would all expect from our banks, and will allow flexibility so that people can be assured of the right support even if they take on temporary work. This simplified system could reduce the amount of fraud and error in the system and also lessen the amount of time customers need to spend filling out forms when a job ends, the options in the paper are designed to ensure that welfare is sustainable for the future and in doing so guarantee that those who cannot work are not forced to and the vulnerable receive all the support they need. To read the "21st Century Welfare" consultation document, click here To read the quick summary of "21st Century Welfare" consultation document, click here To read the "About changing the benefits system" easy read, click here
Equity and Excellence Summary Part 1, click here Equity and Excellence Summary Part 2, click here Consultation Papers: Have Your Say, click here
Somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to. A report on the review of day services in the Bradford District for adults with mental health needs, click here
Proposed changes to guidance on evaluating the exent of rough sleeping. This document describes a set of proposed changes to the existing rough sleeping guidance. It also gives users of the rough sleeping figures and those involved in evaluating the scale of rough sleeping in their local area an opportunity to comment on the proposals. This is a public consultation and the Department particularly welcomes responses from local authorities and the voluntary sector, click here
RADAR is the UK's largest disability campaigning organisation, with a membership of over 900 disability organisations and individual campaigners. There vision is a just and equal society whose strength is human difference. There mission is to enable individuals, networks and policy-makers to do things differently. Radar has published a briefing about the Green Paper: Shaping the Future of care together - What it says & what we need to do, click here |
