! Overview' 'With the renewed confidence that only a majority government can bring, Jeremy Hunt has laid out his vision for the NHS for the next 25 years in a landmark speech at the King’s Fund. Boldly calling the Conservatives the “true party of the NHS”, Mr Hunt unveiled his wide-ranging plans to improve the quality of health services. ! Hunting for a Key'points'from'the'speech'include'the'Secretary'of'State’s'plan'to:' ' sustainable & ! Shift&power&from&a&bureaucratic&to&a& ! Merge&Monitor&and&the&NHS&Trust& NHS democratic&system&that&empowers& Development&Authority&into&one&body:& patients.&& NHS&Improvement.&Ed&Smith& Written&by: & ! Make&the&NHS&“the&world’s&largest& (previously&NHS&England’s&Deputy& learning&organisation”.& Chairman)&will&chair&the&new&NHS& Rostislav Babjak ! Impose&new&contracts&on&NHS& Improvement.&& Published:& consultants&requiring&them&to&work& ! Set&up&a&new&Independent&Patient& 16 July 2015 weekends.&& Safety&Investigation&Service.& ! Encourage&the&NHS&to&exploit&the& ! Establish&an&“international&buddying& & opportunities&provided&by&new& programme”&to&enable&hospitals&to& technologies,&which&could& learn&more&about&patient&safety&from& ! transform&patient&care.&Internet& hospitals&around&the&world.&& ! entrepreneur&Martha&LaneFFox&has& ! been&appointed&to&develop&ideas&for& ! Make&more&information&available&to& ! digital&innovation&in&the&NHS.& patients,&including&the&launch&of&a&new& ! ! Publish&avoidable&death&figures&for& electronic&booking&service&that&will& include&information&about&hospital& ! hospital&trusts&in&order&to&continue& ratings&and&waiting&times&in&2016.&& ! making&the&NHS&more&open&about& ! its&mistakes.& ! ! & ' ! Summary' ' ! Hunt’s speech has attracted support from both the public and various NHS leaders. ! David Behan, CQC’s Chief Executive, welcomed the vision for a democratic and ! innovative NHS that “empowers patients and staff alike”. NHS England Chief ! Executive, Simon Stevens, also welcomed the speech, in particular the introduction of the combined provider regulator, NHS Improvement. ! ! Taking his standoff with doctors to a new level, Hunt accused the British Medical ! Association of being a “road block to reforms that will save lives” after the main ! doctors’ union walked out on the talks on the NHS consultants’ contract. Entrenching ! his stance, Hunt said, "Be in no doubt: if we can't negotiate, we are ready to impose a ! new contract". Andy Burnham – Shadow Secretary for Health – advised Hunt to avoid ! such provocative statements and rethink the “manner in which he is pursuing these ! negotiations.” Telling overworked and under-resourced hospital doctors to ‘get real’ is ! a high-risk move for the Health Secretary. With 66% of Trusts forecasting a deficit by ! the end of 2015/16 (the highest since 2011), doctors’ are criticising the Health ! Secretary for offering little more than empty rhetoric with no detail on how extra ! weekend care will be afforded. ! Sitting amongst these new political promises, the elephant in room at the King’s Fund today was an NHS that is creaking at the seams and may be increasingly unsustainable as a solely tax-payer funded service in the long-term. .