14 March 2003
Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith has vowed to scrap NHS waiting list targets if the party wins the next election, under plans outlined in a consultation document.
Tapping into the increasing public scepticism about waiting lists – exacerbated last week by the publication of an Audit Commission report that accused three NHS trusts of doctoring figures – Duncan Smith said his vision of the NHS was an organisation free from 'political interference'.
He claimed the eradication of waiting list targets would allow doctors to work to clinical priorities and give patients better choice over treatments.
The document, published on March 11, also outlines Tory plans to grant hospitals and primary care trusts extra freedoms to control their own budgets, although critics said it was short on details.
Duncan Smith said: 'Depoliticisation of the health service can occur only when direct control over the NHS is removed from politicians. We are committed to the abolition of the central administration targets that tie the NHS in red tape.'
NHS managers tentatively welcomed Duncan Smith's proposals. The NHS Confederation described them as deserving 'more serious discussion'.
PFmar2003
