Brown pledges new era for NHS
Updated on 24 September 2007
Gordon Brown has promised to take the NHS into a new era with greater access to services and more power for patients.
He reiterated his pledge to clean up Britain's hospitals and tackle bugs like MRSA and Clostridium difficile.
All suspected cases of breast cancer will be treated as urgent and the breast and colon cancer screening programmes will be expanded.
The Prime Minister said he wanted the NHS to be a "personal health service" for all who use it, with regular check-ups for adults.
There was a promise of better health care but patients had to "show up" and not miss appointments.
He said: "I want an NHS personal to you because you are seen by a consultant in a matter of days not months, personal to you because there is a right to be given X-ray results quickly and time to discuss your treatment, personal to you because we know that being unwell is not just a nine to five problem.
"And so we will make GP hours more friendly to families, open up opportunities to see a GP near your place of work as well as your home, expand walk-in centres, medical services at pharmacies and ensure a better service from NHS Direct."
Mr Brown asked: "Why shouldn't all British people, and not just some, be able to see their doctor at the time they want, at the hospital or clinic they want, not at a time someone else wants?"
He repeated his pledge to double the number of matrons to 5,000. Matrons and ward sisters will have powers to report their concerns about contract cleaners - which are mostly private firms - to their NHS trust board and a strengthened Healthcare Commission.
Over the next decade, £15 billion will be invested in medical research to finance the "genius" of Britain's scientists as they search for cures to diseases like cancer, Mr Brown said.
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