New NHS targets at expense of patient care

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 10th Jun 2004

New NHS targets being announced today will only mean more bureaucracy at the expense of flexible patient care, the Liberal Democrats warned today.

New Treasury targets on health, revealed by the Health Service Journal today, are set to demand a maximum total waiting time of four and a half months, a 10 per cent reduction in emergency inpatient bed days and a halt to the annual rise in childhood obesity.

Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, said:

"The introduction of new NHS targets will mean more bureaucracy at the expense of flexible patient care.

"These targets show that the Government can not let go of its obsession with micromanaging the NHS. There may be only 8 targets but history has shown that these filter down the system into hundreds of targets which frontline staff are forced to chase after.

"The target and tickbox culture introduced by New Labour sends a powerful message to the NHS that ministers do not trust them to deliver without looking over their shoulders."