Cameron: No second rate healthcare

Monday, 17 January 2011 12:00 AM

David Cameron, prime minister, comments on NHS reforms on the Today programme:

"These reforms are right. We obviously have to introduce them in the steady way that we're doing. You have to test your policies. But as I keep saying we should aim for excellence, we shouldn't put up with second best, we should recognise that doing nothing is an option which I think actually, could end in tears.

"First of all we're getting close now to spending the European average on health, so it's not a spending problem. But we are a long way from having the best outcomes in Europe. Our outcomes in terms of how long you survive from cancer, what are your chances of surviving if you have a heart attack, are worse than many countries in Europe.

"The second reason is that costs in the NHS inexorably go up as new drugs come on stream, new treatments arrive, as the population gets older and I don't think there is an option of just quietly standing still staying where we are and putting a bit more money into the NHS.

"I don't think we should put up with a second rate ... with being second best. We should aim to be the best, we should aim for excellence."

Tags:
• issue of the day