By Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart This article was first published in Public Management and Policy and is reproduced by permission of the Association. The article was written before David Miliband, Minister of Communities and Local Government, set out a vision for local government where power is moved down from Whitehall to councils and from councils to citizens. Although the Minister’s vision differs in some ways from that of the author, the direction of travel is very similar.
Primary Care and NHS Trusts will have to work with their Strategic Health Authorities to confirm their investment plans as part of a package of measures to get the health service back into the black and to move forward reforms and improve services for patients.The Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has outlined what she sees as the next steps in creating a patient-led health service in “The NHS in England: the operating framework for 2006/7”. It sets out priorities and expectations for progress on reform and details new rules on financial management.
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Eight local authorities are to trial a system of one-stop shops for older people, based on the model of Sure Start family services as part of a 10-million pound Government programme to deliver key services to disadvantaged people aged over 50. The Local Government Association has welcomed the idea of increasing older people’s independence, choice and well-being, but is warning that local communities must have the freedom to decide how it should be done.The programme is part of a 30-point cross-government action plan contained in a report from the Social Exclusion Unit at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Called Link-Age Plus, it will test the Sure Start approach in selected areas of England. It will be funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and aims to provide a single gateway to services provided in the community.
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