NHS auditing to be extended, says Andrew Lansley

Auditing in the NHS is to be extended by health secretary Andrew Lansley, who has announced 11 new areas in which the NHS will be monitored.

Speaking at the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) conference in Liverpool, the minister said HIV and breast cancer services would be among those coming under scrutiny.

Mr Lansley believes that publishing more NHS data will allow patients to make better informed choices when it comes to receiving the best healthcare.

He claimed that while his aim is not to privatise the NHS, the service does need to be scrutinised and alternatives offered to end users.

"There is a role, a big role, for patients in being able to exercise choice and therefore by extension where patients exercise choice, you have to have a choice among providers," he told doctors.

The health service will begin piloting the publication of audit data this December and an NHS-wide rollout of the initiative is expected to start in April 2012.

RCGP's conference took place between October 20th and 22nd and focused on the latest policy developments in the UK affecting the NHS.