Tories unveil health 'green paper'

The Tories will unveil their 'green paper' on the health service today, timed to coincide with celebrations for the NHS' 60th anniversary.

David Cameron said the new strategy would focus on decisions made by healthcare workers rather than ministers in government.

His announcement came as he claimed his party has the progressive agenda in his monthly press conference yesterday.

Mr Cameron said his NHS plans would not amount to an institutional upheaval and would not be "moving round the furniture".

He claimed that there had been too much "institutional tinkering" in the last few years.

"[NHS] resources will be distributed according to choices made by GPs and patients," he said yesterday.

Mr Cameron stressed that under a Conservative government medical professionals would make decisions "rather than top-down bureaucracy".

In his speech later today, Mr Cameron will make a distinction between Labour targets - based on beds and waiting times - and Tory proposals to base targets on health outcomes after the patient goes to hospital.

Any future Conservative government will aims for five-year survival rates for cancer, premature mortality from stroke and heart disease below EU averages by 2015, premature mortality from lung disease below EU averages by 2020 and a year-on-year improvement in patient-reported outcomes for people living with long-term conditions.