The Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley is expected to release his first policy next week. It is within this, we expect he will discuss his future proposals on GP commissioning. He spoke on 1^st July at the British Medical Association Annual Representatives meeting in Brighton. He outlined his 5 priorities and spoke about the revisions to the national operating framework, creating a national outcomes framework, GP commissioning, Quality Standards and Information.  I intend to report on the speech in bitesize chunks.

So what are Andrew's priorities?

5 priorities:

• 1. "Patients must be at the heart of everything we do - as more than simply beneficiaries of care, but as participants in its design.
• 2. The NHS must be focused on achieving continuously improving outcomes for patients - not inputs or processes, but results.
• 3. We must empower clinicians - those responsible for patient care - to deliver those improvements.
• 4. Improve overall health outcomes and make the demands on the NHS more sustainable, we must prioritise prevention and create a public health service.
• 5. We must reform social care alongside healthcare - and deliver closer integration in how services are commissioned and provided."

The priorities listed above have been mentioned throughout the time the coalition have come into power. What is comforting is that priority 1 says "patients are  more than simply beneficiaries of care, but as participants in design", which means that patients are able to shape the way they receive services, which works well for Local Involvement Networks.