Speaking on the final day of conference in Birmingham, he said there was a need for a new relationship between health services and local independent and voluntary sector services across the country. Without this, he said the NHS is not going to see the dramatic improvement that is instrumental to achieving better outcomes. He said that people create this when they collectively take ownership of the services.
"If we want patients and professionals on the frontline to have more power and influence then we have to reduce the power at the centre, then hold the professionals at the frontline accountable to the results that they achieve."
He criticised the Government’s shift towards the NHS as the preferred provider, saying he wanted to be absolutely clear that the Conservatives are committed to an "any willing provider policy, within NHS quality standards, and within NHS prices".
"We must look for whoever is best able to deliver the care we want for patients," he said.
This included creating an environment for trusts to feel that they can become a social enterprise within the health service, such as an employee-owned enterprise like John Lewis. This option would exist alongside current foundation trust status, which he saw as being designed primarily for large hospitals.
"From our point of view, we get the employee engagement and innovation that we think will come from a greater plurality of provision."
He underlined earlier promises of real terms increases year-on-year for the health service, but said that from a workforce leader’s point of view, that is no reason to think that there’s not a pressing need for savings and redesign of services.
Three priorities
He again outlined his three priorities for the health service as:
- patient engagement as an essential part of improving quality, with outcomes measured by patients
- to do away with process-driven targets and replace these with outcomes
- for people working in the health service to take greater ownership of the services they provide.
Watch Andrew Lansley's speech online
See our NHS Employers latest news page for David Cameron's priorities for the health service, announced earlier this week.