NHS 'fails millions', health chiefs admit

Millions of Londoners are being failed by the NHS, a new health manifesto for the city says today. Bosses have launched the biggest ever consultation on the future of the service amid fears that standards are falling.

They say commuters cannot get basic health tests or see a GP at convenient times, and that people with asthma, diabetes or heart disease are forced to go to hospitals for appointments that could be carried out near home. NHS chiefs are spending millions to ask the public about plans to solve the problems. From January, a "roadshow" will ask Londoners if they agree with the extensive changes. Health chiefs want to abolish traditional hospitals in favour of specialist centres dealing with seriously ill patients. More people will also be seen in their homes for conditions such as cancer and for midwife-assisted home births.

Ruth Carnall, head of the NHS in London, said: "We have a chance to really change the way patients get what they need from the NHS and we need to know what people think."

The plans mean developing 150 polyclinics serving 50,000 people, super-hospitals covering 250,000 patients and three hospitals specialising in severe injuries, including the Royal London in Whitechapel.

Local hospitals will have 24-hour A&E but complex emergency surgery will be left to specialist centres. NHS chiefs claim the proposals could save £1.5bn a year.