“We are already seeing Lord Darzi’s vision to put quality at the heart of care becoming a reality across the country, but we can go further. By making NHS services truly people-centred and ensuring that patients have access to high quality, integrated and efficient community services, the NHS could save up to £2.7 billion a year – meaning a better service for patients, and a more productive service for taxpayers.” [Andy Burnham, speaking last week]

Last year, The NHS: From Good To Great made clear the NHS’s continuing commitment to taking care services into the comunity. “There is still too much care organised in hospitals,” it said,”which best practice shows could be organised around patients at home or in community settings.”

Part of its vision of the NHS was for healthcare being delivered closer and closer to the patient. This is a continuation of Lord Darzi’s emphasis in High Quality Care for All upon providing convenient care closer to home – that vision of quality, personalised care remains key, then, to everything the NHS is striving to achieve.

The exciting news last week that more dialysis is to be performed at home, and more chemotherapy in the community, is therefore to be welcomed. You can read the Department of Health’s press release on this here. In addition, take a look at this report by the Audit Commission, which contains evidence that older people with the opportunity to be treated at home are happier – and that such a system not only pleases patients but increases efficiency.