David Cameron speech on the NHS

David Cameron speech on the NHS; David Cameron speech continues SOT - But while the number of patients is rising, so too is the range of treatment. Today, medical advances, driven by the hi-tech revolution, are increasing at an exponential rate. Genetics, nanotechnology and robotics are being integrated into the work of the NHS. Da vinci robots, costing millions, are routinely used for pelvic surgery.Those at risk of inherited disease may be referred for genetic diagnosis by their GP, at a cost of £5,000 a time. Patients undergoing operations might have stents - tubes like internal medical scaffolding - put into their airways and blood vessels, with a hand-made stent for the aortic arch costing £60,000 alone. And these are just the technologies already in operation. Right now scientists are working on artificial limbs that are controlled by thought alone. Breathalyzers that can diagnose disease with one puff. Microscopic robots that can be injected into veins to perform minor procedures from the inside. Of course, timely interventions with effective new drugs and technologies have the potential to deliver cost savings. But overall, the cost implication of all this growth - both in the supply of and the demand for healthcare - is clear. Spending on the NHS cannot stand still, because standing still would be taking a step backwards. That is why we have pledged real-terms increases in NHS spending...That is a pledge Labour have not made - a fact which, to put it mildly, takes the wind out of their point-scoring sails.But even so, we have to recognise something. Given the huge pressures faced by the NHS over the coming decades, that increase in spending alone is not enough. The gap between what we will have to do and what we can afford to do presents an urgent need for reform. We need reform on both sides of the cost equation.We have to make the supply of healthcare more efficient...... and we must also do something about the increase in demand for healthcare...