Tragic father-of-two highlighted need for massive investment

HEALTH Secretary Alan Milburn told last night how the death of a North-East father-of-two played a part in this week's historic £40bn cash injection for the NHS.

He said he was "powerfully scarred" by the experience of Ian Weir who died after waiting for heart surgery three years ago.

Mr Milburn said the death of Mr Weir, who was a friend and strong Labour supporter, brought home the urgent need to overhaul the NHS.

The tragedy prompted The Northern Echo to launch its A Chance to Live campaign in 1999 to highlight long waits for patients needing heart operations.

Mr Weir, a photographer with The Northern Echo, lived in Darlington, Mr Milburn's constituency.

By this summer, patients waiting six months for a heart operation will be able to choose a hospital - whether public or private - to give them quicker treatment.

Mr Milburn said: "Part of the reason why I have given such a strong personal commitment to improving heart services and getting waiting times down for heart surgery is what happened to Ian.

"What happened is very powerfully scarred on the memories of everybody, including me, and you really have to avoid that situation happening again.

"What we are going to be able to do is that, now we have the maximum waiting time down for heart surgery down to 12 months, we want to take that further."

But he said: "You can only do that when you have got the capacity. But there is an absolute commitment on my part, a personal commitment on my part, that improvements in heart services in the NHS will get a fair share of these growing NHS resources."

Challenged over the shortage of care home beds, Mr Milburn would not say how quickly the crisis would be eased.

Private nursing homes and council homes have shut - creating "bed blocking", where elderly patients are kept in much-needed hospital beds because they cannot be found care places.

Mr Milburn announced a six per cent increase in local authority resources to deal with the crisis - at the same time making them responsible for ensuring that elderly people are able to leave hospital after they are treated.

Mr Milburn told the Commons yesterday that the planned rise in NHS funding over the next five years - from £65bn to £105bn - would see the construction of 40 new hospitals and 500 primary health care centres.

He pledged that the extra investment would also mean 35,000 more nurses and 15,000 more doctors.

At the same time, he announced a new system of financial incentives to reward hospitals which treat patients more quickly.

For the first time NHS hospitals would have to compete with each other for funds, with more cash going to those that performed best.

He said the extra cash for the NHS must be accompanied by reform, with higher standards and shorter waiting times for patients.

Average waiting times for hospital operations would be cut to only six weeks over the next five years.

"By the time of the next election, there will be real and significant improvements," he said.

An independent Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection will be appointed to assess performance and raise standards across the NHS, reporting directly to Parliament rather than the Government. "The commission will be the judge," said Mr Milburn. "The British people will be the jury."

A similar independent body will be set up to oversee and monitor delivery of promises on long-term care.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, touring a London hospital yesterday, were pressed by a senior doctor on the effect the one per cent National Insurance increase would have on low-paid NHS staff. Peta Longstaff, an accident and emergency consultant, described this as a bit of an "own goal".