Independent treatment centres will have to provide training

Health secretary Patricia Hewitt moved to placate some concerns raised by doctors that training NHS junior doctors is being compromised by the arrival of independent treatment centres using doctors from outside the United Kingdom. But she made it clear that the pace of reform in the NHS is to increase in 2006 with patients' “demands and aspirations” the key driver of better care. And care will be provided by a wider range of organisations outside the NHS.

Speaking at an NHS Confederation lecture last week, Ms Hewitt said that patients were happy with treatment in the independent …