I attended the launch event for the NESTA report by Laura Bunt and Michael Harris, The Human Factor: how transforming healthcare to involve the public can save money and save lives. The three speakers were Andrew Lansley, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Tim Kelsey, Chairman of Dr Foster Intelligence, and Jonathan Kestenbaum is Chief Executive of NESTA.
You can watch the Q&A session and read the full report on the personal health records encyclopedia. I was intrigued by the discussion, including:
- a suggestion that patients should be allowed to pool their purchasing. 1,000 patients with diabetes could, for example, choose together and then buy together the care they need from the provider they want.
- Tim Kelsey’s suggestion that patients should be allowed to choose the primary care trust that would look after them.