NHS Reconfiguration

Mr. Hands
16. To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the progress of the reconfiguration of NHS institutions.

Ann Keen
The NHS is changing because medicines and treatments are changing. If we do not keep up with the times, services will not keep on improving. Local services are changing for the benefit of patients. That means safer surgery, quicker recovery times, shortened lengths of stay in hospital, more people receiving hospital-style treatment in their own homes, and more investment in local services.

Changes to local services are however a matter for the local NHS.