£9 million payout for satisfied patients

OLDHAM’S hospital could cash in on £9 million a year — if patients are happy with the service they receive.

Under long-awaited plans unveiled yesterday by Health Minister Lord Darzi, hospitals will be paid according to the care they provide, taking into account everything from compassion shown by staff to surgeons’ death rates.

The radical 10-year plan for the NHS will see patients given questionnaires to test their “experience” — how quick and convenient their treatment was, as well as the “respect” they were shown by doctors and nurses.

The results — to be called Quality Accounts — will be published .

The rewards for better quality, to be introduced from April 2010, will be worth £7-9million at the average district hospital — about £1 in every £25 spent.

Lord Darzi said: “For the first time, patients’ own assessments of the success of their treatment and the quality of their experiences will have a direct impact on the way hospitals are funded.”

The 12-month review involved consultations with 60,000 patients and staff and has been hailed by the prime minister as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to make the NHS one of the world’s best systems.

It is believed quality will improve if teams of doctors and nurses compete with rivals at other hospitals. Changes will see patients choosing a different hospital if they think it gives a better level of care, and could go as far as expressing a preference — although not an outright choice — for a particular surgeon they want to perform their operation.

Lord Darzi also published a draft constitution setting out, for the first time, the rights of patients.

One of those rights is to all drugs and treatments approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) — ending the so-called post code lottery.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said the government had “resuscitated the NHS” after the cash-starved Tory years.

He said: “For the first time, improvements to quality will be recognised and rewarded.”

But Andrew Lansley, the Conservative health spokesman, said: “Instead of scrapping the targets which distract doctors from delivering the best possible health care, Labour have opted for more of the same.”